BB&T Grabs Raleigh Office Building in $34M Deal

By Timea Papp

Highwoods Tower One

Highwoods Properties completed the sale of Highwoods Tower One, a Class A office building totaling 187,000 square feet in the Northeast submarket of Raleigh, N.C. According to public records, Highwoods sold the asset in a $34.3 million deal to tenant BB&T, a financial service holding company based in Winston-Salem, N.C. The deal included a nearby two-acre land parcel that traded for $1 million.

Nearing full occupancy

Located at 3200 Beechleaf Court, Highwoods Tower was 85.5 percent leased at the end of September. The 10-story building was completed in 1991 and is ENERGY STAR rated. The property offers amenities including 24-hour security, on-site maintenance services, training room, café, dry cleaning, sundry shop and a parking ratio of roughly 4 spaces per 1,000 square feet.

“Continuing to cull our portfolio and redeploying those proceeds to build and acquire in BBD-centric locations is an essential tenet of our long-term strategic plan. In the past three years, we’ve invested more than $500 million in our hometown of Raleigh,” said Ed Fritsch, president & CEO of Highwoods Properties, in prepared remarks.

In addition, the REIT has agreed to sell the adjacent 168,000-square-foot Highwoods Tower Two for $31 million. The transaction is scheduled to close in the second quarter of 2018. The property was completed in 2000 and was 90.8 percent occupied at the end of September. Both buildings are located within the 122-acre Highwoods Office Center.

Earlier this year, MetLife selected Highwoods Properties to develop its global technology headquarters in Cary, N.C. Construction was set to begin this summer.

Image courtesy of Yardi Matrix