Cousins' New Sales Hit $420M in 30 Days

ATLANTA-In the largest disposition of class A office assets in the city’s commercial real estate annals, locally based Wildwood Associates, headed by Cousins Properties Inc., has sold off two more buildings and eight ground leases for $247.5 million at the 2.5-million-sf, eight-building, 285-acre Wildwood Office Park, just north of Atlanta in Cobb County. Two Wildwood buildings remain to be sold.

Cousins president and CEO Tom Bell calls the disposition “the largest project sale in Atlanta’s history.” The previous record was Beacon Properties’ $315-million purchase of Perimeter Center in 1996.

The $247.5-million sale, coupled with the $172.5-million sale of four Wildwood Office Park buildings on Sept. 20 to Wells Real Estate Investment Trust II, brings the 30-day disposition total to $420 million, a local record. Cousins didn’t disclose the buyer’s name in its newest disposition but area brokers familiar with the property tell GlobeSt.com the buyer is UBS Realty Investors of New York, a division of international banking conglomerate UBS.

As part of the sale, the buyer has retained Cousins to lease and manage the buildings. They are 2300 Windy Ridge Parkway, a 635,000-sf structure completed in 1988 and leased to national corporations such as Manhattan Associates and Chevron; 3200 Windy Hill Road (Wildwood Plaza), a 700,756-sf building completed in 1991, also leased to national tenants such as Coca-Cola Enterprises and GE Energy. Among the tenants holding the eight ground leases are Houston’s, Wachovia and TGI Friday’s.

“These buildings–two of the largest suburban office buildings in Atlanta–are great properties with excellent tenants,” says Bell. “The fact that this sale sets a record supports our stance that focusing on high-quality assets in great locations is a timeless strategy that will continue to deliver exceptional value for our shareholders.”

This is the eighth office disposition this year by Cousins and its associates. On Oct. 25, Cousins and Washington, DC-based CarrAmerica sold the John Marshall II building in suburban DC for $59.3 million. On Sept. 21, 101 Second St. and 55 Second St., both in San Francisco, were sold to an affiliate of Houston-based Hines for $287 million.

On Sept. 20, the Cousins partnership sold four 99%-leased Wildwood Office Park buildings totaling 832,000 sf to Wells for $172.5 million or $207.33 per sf. In early September, Buildings III and IV at Austin Research Park in Austin were sold to a private equity fund for $78.7 million.

In early August, the Pinnacle and Two Live Oak, both in Atlanta, were sold to New York-based TIAA-CREF for $200 million. The Pinnacle sale still holds the record for the single highest per-sf price–$342.78 per sf on a sale of $145 million.

In late July, 101 Independence Center, a 20-story, 526,000-sf office building Downtown Charlotte, NC was sold to American Financial Realty Trust for $100 million. And in May, the 333 John Carlyle building and 1900 Duke St., both in Alexandria, VA, were sold to Grosvenor USA Ltd. for $80 million.