Stonewater Sells Park Center I for $73 Million
White Plains, New York — September 18, 2007 — Stonewater Partners announced today the
disposition of Park Center I in Alexandria, VA for $73 million. The 14-story, 232,123
square foot office building was 100% leased, primarily as the headquarters for two US
Government agencies: the USDA's Food and Nutrition Services and Department of
Defense's US Army Audit Agency headquarters. The purchaser was an affiliate of
Northwestern Mutual Life who has a major presence within the office park. Jones Lang
LaSalle's Washington DC team headed by Collins Ege represented Stonewater in the
sale.
Commenting on the transaction, Jeffrey Toporek, a Stonewater principal, said "This sale
represents the successful execution of a business strategy we identified when Stonewater
was founded. We actively seek to acquire opportunistic real estate - in this particular case
short term leased single tenant properties - add value, and then exit. At Park Center,
Stonewater repositioned the anchor lease for USDA by extending the term for 10 years,
substantially increasing rent and parking revenue, and re-measuring the building
according to current BOMA standards. Stonewater acquired the asset for $37.5 million in
2004 with only two years remaining on each of the government leases. Since the
acquisition, Stonewater has invested several million dollars in capital improvements,
including a $1 million garage renovation project."
David Stade, also a Stonewater principal, added: "Despite the turbulent capital markets,
the sale price exceeded our expectations, which is a testament to the credit quality, long
term nature of the lease and a strong DC office market. The Jones Lang LaSalle team
was able to navigate the choppy waters in the capital markets by identifying an all-cash
strategic purchaser who performed in less than 10 days. The purchaser has the unique
opportunity to reassemble the office park, redevelop the retail and resolve some parking
allotment issues. There are few transactions where both seller and buyer win and this is
clearly one of them."
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