RFR president Jason Brown tells GlobeSt.com that the deal could close in the next 60 days. The contract was signed between the two parties on March 23. The portfolio includes the four-building, roughly 968,000-sf Stamford Plaza office complex, the 224,000-sf Canterbury Green, the 272,458-sf 300 Atlantic St. and the 188,000-sf 177 Broad St.
Brown says RFR was attracted to the portfolio due to its prime location and below market rents. "We are very bullish on the Stamford market. Stamford is growing, it is going in the right direction," Brown says.
Eastdil Secured of New York City is representing Blackstone in the pending transaction.
If the deal closes it would mark the entrance of RFR Holding to the Stamford office market. The company owns approximately 10 million sf of office space in New York City. In years past, the firm has owned properties in Greenwich, but at the moment has no holdings in the Nutmeg State.
Equity's Stamford portfolio is currently securing average rents in the mid- to upper-$30 per sf range. Brown believes RFR can secure rents in the high $40s per sf to low $50s per sf in the future. "We think Stamford will eventually become an extension of Manhattan," Brown notes.
The sale of this 1.7-million-sf portfolio follows quickly behind sales of former EOP holdings across the country in the last 30 days. Even before the Blackstone/EOP merger closed, Blackstone was in talks to sell off a majority of the assets. The company has completed dispositions in San Diego, Los Angeles, Portland, OR, and Denver.
Even in the wave of taking several companies like EOP private, Blackstone filed a $4 billion initial public offering to be traded on the New York Stock Exchange late last week.
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