Drawbridge Realty Completes $149M Refinancing

4 and 5 Polaris Way. Image courtesy of Drawbridge Realty

Drawbridge Realty, a San Francisco-based nationwide real estate investment and development company, has completed a $149 million refinancing secured by four office properties that will give the firm additional capital for acquisitions this year.

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The five-year permanent loan was provided by California Bank & Trust as administrative agent and joint lead arranger, Bank of the West as joint lead arranger and TCF National Bank. Drawbridge has the option to extend the term to seven years. The facility also has an accordion feature allowing Drawbridge to increase the CB&T lending commitment by putting up a fifth property as collateral.

Drawbridge COO Charlie McEachron said in a prepared statement the additional credit capacity provides the firm with ample dry powder for 2021 acquisitions. Citing strong relationships with each of the lenders, McEachron said Drawbridge was able to secure an attractive low fixed rate for the financing. He noted the options to expand and extend the loan also give the firm opportunity and flexibility during a key time in the market cycle.

Featured properties

The loan is secured by four fully leased buildings—three in Southern California and one in Austin, Texas—totaling more than 680,000 square feet.

• 3300 Duval Road, a 77,000-square-foot office and lab facility in Austin, Texas
• Spectrum Corporate Center, a 182,000-square-foot office and R&D complex in San Diego
• 4 and 5 Polaris Way, a 169,000-square-foot regional headquarters building in Aliso Viejo, Calif.
• 31303 Agoura Road, a 253,000-square-foot building leased to Bank of America in Westlake Village, Calif.

Drawbridge acquired 4 and 5 Polaris Way in October 2019, when it purchased the Orange County portfolio from Invesco Real Estate for a total of $70.8 million. Constructed in 1999, the four- and three-story buildings are located on 9 acres and total approximately 169,000 square feet. They are the headquarters for Quest Software (4 Polaris Way) and UST Global (5 Polaris Way).

The firm acquired Spectrum Corporate Center in May 2015 from Real Estate Capital Partners and IVG Institutional Funds in a deal valued at about $61 million. The three-building campus was completed in 2005 and is fully occupied under a long-term triple-net lease by Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., a subsidiary of Northrop Grumman Corp.

Other deals

Drawbridge targets commercial property investments in growth markets across the U.S. with a focus on office assets that have large corporations as long-term tenants. The firm has been active in recent months, including through the December purchase of a 260,000-square-foot, fully leased corporate headquarters in Durham, N.C. In November, Drawbridge renewed a regional headquarters lease for National Instruments at 4600 Patrick Henry Drive in Santa Clara, Calif., and topped out a 124,801-square-foot second phase of construction at Uplands Corporate Center in Austin. The new three-story building will be completed in the first quarter of 2022.