Starwood Capital Acquires Tokyo Office Property

Company officials say that the deal is an "add-on investment" to its prior acquisition of the Tokimec Building (Building A at Technoport Kamata) last year. The B building at Technoport Kamata contains 12,300 sf floor plates and is said to be "especially well-suited for Japanese corporate tenants," according to officials with the partnership.

Building A, valued in excess of $46 million, was acquired by Starwood Capital Group Global and Nomura with non-recourse financing by Sakura Bank (now Sumitomo Mitsui Bank). At the time of the purchase last year, the 237,000 sf property's occupancy dropped from 94% to 78% because of the departure of Tokimec Corp., upon closing by Nomura in September 2000.

Since then, the building's occupancy has risen to 98%, Starwood Capital officials note. That building was transferred to the Nomura/Starwood Capital Group partnership in March of this year.

The buildings are part of a three building complex. Starwood Capital Group Global officials say that the venture has no plans at the moment to acquire the remaining building at the complex.

Commenting on the deal, Ken Munkacy, managing director of Starwood Asia Holdings, says, "We believe this acquisition further demonstrates the strong progress the venture is making in implementing its investment strategy and will position us well for implementation of a J-REIT exit strategy." With the acquisition, Starwood Capital Group Global now has six properties in its Asian portfolio, which consist of five office buildings and one hotel -- the 307-room Union Hotel in Kobe, Japan.