TYSONS CORNER, VA-Investcorp, an investment fund listed on the Bahrain Bourse and with offices in New York, London and Bahrain, has snapped up five office buildings in three US cities for a total of $200 million. The cities are Tysons Corner, VA, Denver, CO and Houston, Texas.
The properties are Tysons Commerce Center, a 181,000-square foot building; Westmoor Place, which consists of three buildings located in the Denver-Boulder tech corridor totaling 428,000 square feet; and Westchase Center in Houston, a 466,000 square foot property.
Their combined occupancy rate is more than 94%.
The properties also roughly share the same demand drivers, namely energy, healthcare, technology and education.
Indeed, when James A. Fetgatter, chief executive of Association of Foreign Investors in Real Estate, heard about the transaction, he thought the acquisition sounded like an energy play. "It is not dissimilar from a lot of foreign investors that see the energy industry as a driver in the US economy," he tells GlobeSt.com.
"The acquisition is also consistent with the fact that Houston scored so highly with our members," he says, referring to AFIRE's annual survey of global cities in which foreign real estate investors say they will invest—this year being New York, San Francisco, Washington, DC and Houston.
One fact is clear--foreign investors still see value in US commercial real estate, in a range of cities. Investcorp's acquisition is a bit reminiscent of Norway's Norges Bank Investment Management investment earlier this year in five commercial properties. The manager of the Norwegian Government Pension Fund Global acquired a 49.9% interest from TIAA-CREF in assets in Washington, DC Boston and New York for $1.2 billion.
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