Illinois Buyer Nabs Time Warner-Leased Deal

Boulder Group president Randy Blankstein, acting as RB 2951 Kinwest Parkway LLC, bought the former Comcast building, positioned on 2.46 acres beside the cable provider's regional headquarters, from Sammons Realty Corp. of Dallas. Unlike two acquisitions in October, the Northbrook, IL-based investor tells GlobeSt.com that he bought the property for his own portfolio rather than the $100-million Boulder Net Lease Fund because the listing was well below the $5-million threshold.

"It's a true triple net," Blankstein says. "I will be a passive coupon-clipping investor for this property." He says he's looking to acquire "two or three" more properties in the $10-million to $15-million range for his portfolio while shopping for the fund for "three to five" more with a high end of $50 million--all in Dallas/Fort Worth.

"We really like the Dallas market, both the demographics and the valuations placed on the assets," Blankstein says. "It is an under-valued market. It will be one of our target markets, for sure."

Blankstein secured a five-year, fixed-rate loan with a 25-year amortization from Chicago-based LaSalle Bank to make the close for the Las Colinas property. Allen Harrington of Transwestern Commercial Services in Dallas represented the seller while Blankstein had the Grubb & Ellis Co. team of senior vice president Thomas Clarke and associate Lindsay Allen negotiating the buy side.

Clarke says the deal was in the market less than 30 days, with Comcast inking a five-year extension in June before it handed over its North Texas cable business to Time Warner. The GE Medical Systems build-to-suit, which rose in 1985, was passed to Paragon Cable Co. in 1996. Subsequently, Paragon was taken over by Comcast and the bricks-and-mortar sold.

During a three-day period in mid-October, Boulder's $100-million fund covered the $4.2-million purchase of a 90,000-sf building on 5.52 acres at 1908 110th St. in Grand Prairie and $10.2-million buy of a 70,680-sf structure on six acres at 830 S. Greenville Ave. in Allen. L-3 Communications is the net-lease tenant for the Grand Prairie building and HIT Entertainment Ltd., known for its characters Barney, Bob the Builder, Thomas & Friends and Angelina Ballerina, headquarters at the Allen property.

The net-lease fund targets high-yielding, single-tenant office and industrial properties. "Dallas clearly has an over-supply of office at the moment," Blankstein says, "but that's short term. The long-term demographics are there to ensure it gets backfilled."