WiredZone is owned by Apollo Real Estate Investment Funds of New York City and Dallas-based Prescott Realty Group. The duo worked out a new deal with the Stamford, CT-headquartered GE Real Estate to replace expiring mortgage notes with a four-year loan, Vance Detwiler, principal and managing director for Prescott Realty, tells GlobeSt.com. Given the timing of the deal and today's capital markets, it's a safe bet that the deal was closed with a sub-5% interest rate.

"We felt it was an attractive time in the marketplace to capitalize on attractive interest rates and continue a long-term relationship with GE Capital," Detwiler explains of the decision to refinance although the borrowers had the option to extend the existing note. Detwiler says about $1 million will be used for upgrades, primarily to install uninterrupted power supply sources, in the telecom hotel portfolio. The work got underway last year and will wrap up in six months. None of the funds will go toward acquisitions of additional properties although the JV is again shopping for product, now that the high-tech market is picking up steam, according to Detwiler.

"WiredZone continues to grow and have success, even during the soft markets in real estate and technology because we've been strategic about how we grew the portfolio," Jud Pankey, WiredZone's president and CEO and Prescott Realty principal, said in a press release.

Houston and Tulsa's WiredZone properties are 90% leased and Seattle's is 50%, according to Detwiler. The portfolio consists of the 592,090-sf 5959 Corporate Drive in Houston; estimated 600,000-sf 110 W. Seventh St. in Tulsa; and 350,000-sf Harbour Pointe Technology Center at 6500 Harbour Heights Parkway in Seattle. The JV formed WiredZone in 1999 to develop a network of technology centers designed for bandwidth-intensive operations, with infrastructure-intensive tenants as the target market.