Hudson Pacific Gets Busy with California Office Deals

By Gail Kalinoski

Wells Fargo Center, 11601 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles

Los Angeles—Hudson Pacific Properties Inc. is buying its corporate headquarters at 11601 Wilshire Blvd. and using the sale of a San Francisco Bay area office building to help fund the $311 million purchase of the office tower.

Hudson Pacific entered into an agreement with Blackstone to acquire the 25-story, 500,475-square-foot tower in West Los Angeles from funds managed by the private equity giant. The real estate firm has had its corporate headquarters at the building since its July 2010 initial public offering.

The building, known as the Wells Fargo Center, is 83 percent leased. Hudson Pacific said in a news release that the acquisition would be a value-add play through enhanced operations, lease-up of vacant space and re-leasing of space at market rents above current rents. The deal is expected to close by July 31.

Hudson Pacific recently closed on the sale of One Bay Plaza, a 195,739-square-foot office tower at 1350 Bayshore Highway in Burlingame, Calif., for $53.4 million. Eastdil Secured represented the company on the deal, which closed June 1, at a premium to the original purchase price. Net proceeds from the sale of One Bay Plaza and repayment of the $28.5 million Broadway Trade Center note will be used towards the purchase of 11601 Wilshire Blvd. The firm also expects to fund the remaining purchase price with a combination of funds from its revolving credit facility project financing and/or private placement proceeds.

“Our team’s long history of occupancy and prior ownership of 11601 Wilshire Blvd. provided a competitive edge to understanding the value creation potential for this asset,” Victor Coleman, Hudson Pacific chairman & CEO, said in a prepared statement. “Our success in selling One Bay Plaza and securing the timely repayment of our Broadway Trade Center note adds to our already ample capital sources to fund this transaction.”

One Bay Plaza, Burlingame, Calif.

Coleman said the completion later this year of the previously announced sale of 12655 Jefferson Blvd. in Playa Vista, Calif., for $80 million will also provide interim financing of 11601 Wilshire Blvd.

“We expect to identify the 11601 Wilshire Blvd. acquisition as the replacement property for 12655 Jefferson pursuant to a 1031 reverse exchange,” Coleman added.

Hudson Pacific, which also owns several Washington properties, has been busy with its California portfolio in recent months. In January, the company sold Bayhill Office Center, a 554,328-square-foot Class A office campus in San Bruno, Calif., to YouTube for $215 million.

Last fall, Hudson Pacific also sold two buildings at Bay Park Plaza in Burlingame to private equity firm H&Q Asia Pacific for a reported $90 million. The buildings at 555 Airport Blvd. and 577 Airport Blvd. had been part of a portfolio Hudson Pacific previously bought from Blackstone. Those properties were part of the $3.5 billion acquisition of the Equity Office Properties 8.2 million-square-foot portfolio that Hudson Pacific made in early 2015. Blackstone Real Estate Partners V and VI had owned the San Francisco Peninsula and Silicon Valley office properties before the blockbuster stock-and-case sale to Hudson Pacific.

Images courtesy of Yardi Matrix