BPG Fund Buys 10-Building Campus for $80M

The park is comprised of 100 acres adjacent to Interstates 494 and 35 East, and Highways 149 and 55, and just a few minutes from the airport, says Kelly Gibbel, senior asset manager for BPG. The property includes about 530,000 sf of office space, ranging from data/tech to class A in buildings from one- to three-stories tall, and 12,000 sf of retail space, Gibbel says.

"We thought this is a very nice project," she tells GlobeSt.com. "It's well-located, and complements what we're doing in the Minneapolis market. The buildings are about 92% leased, and we think with some energy, we could finish leasing it up." She wouldn't discuss the lease rates. The average rate in the Southwest submarket is $27.25 per sf, according to a third-quarter Grubb & Ellis market report.

By complements, she means the company's acquisition of the 917,500-sf Metropoint, the Center for Business office park in August 2006 for $86 million. The property is in the West submarket, about 45 miles from Grand Oak in the Southwest submarket. Metropoint is about is 77% occupied, thanks to a $10-million capital improvement project. The company is refocusing all the entrances to face Ford Road, and putting in new lobbies, small retail shops, conference centers and fitness centers into the four-building park. Major tenants include Wells Fargo, Prudential and Corporate Benefit Services of America.

"We've always said we want to buy more in Minneapolis," Gibbel says. "There's a lot of diversification here, and we like the economics. We're still looking at other properties here. We like the Midwest as well, we're very interested in the region from a value-add standpoint. We're still in the buying mode with the funds."

Brant Glomb, VP with BPG, represented his company in the purchase. Terry Kingston and Tom O'Brien with Cushman & Wakefield, represented the seller, Interstate.