John Hancock Adds 3 Office Properties for $618M

BOSTON-Confirming earlier reports of office acquisitions by Toronto-based Manulife Financial Corp., Boston-based life company John Hancock, the US division of Manulife, said Thursday it had paid a total of $618 million in three separate transactions for office properties in Chicago, New York City and the suburbs of Boston. The most recent of the deals, for 200 South Wacker Dr. in Chicago, closed Thursday.

The Chicago property, for which John Hancock paid $214.5 million to acquire from a partnership of Equity Group Investments, Pearlmark Real Estate Partners and TIER REIT, is the largest of the three assets by size at 754,750 square feet. It's now part of a John Hancock real estate portfolio in Chicago totaling 5.7 million square feet.

Last week, GlobeSt.com reported that an affiliate of the Blackstone Group sold its 650,000-square-foot Wellesley Office Park in the Boston suburb of Wellesley, MA for $237 million. The buyer was not identified in an announcement from HFF, which marketed the office complex as well as 200 South Wacker, although published reports indicated that it was Manulife. John Hancock's commercial portfolio in its home territory totals more than 2.5 million square feet.

GlobeSt.com also reported last week that Mitsui Fudosan had sold the 21-story 100 William St., a Lower Manhattan office property for which John Hancock now claims ownership. The life company paid $166.5 million for the 422,000-square-foot property in a deal brokered by CBRE.

“We are constantly assessing opportunities to grow our real estate investment portfolio,” says Kevin Adolphe, president and CEO of Manulife Real Estate and Manulife Asset Management Private Markets. “We've done just that yet again with these three excellent properties that align nicely with our strategy of investing in core and diverse markets. We remain optimistic about these markets and will continue to evaluate core office, industrial and multifamily residential property investments throughout Canada, the United States and Asia.”