Workspace Consortium Acquires $1.1B Suburban Office Portfolio 

Image courtesy of Erika Wittlieb via Pixabay.com

In a transaction valued at more than $1.1 billion, a consortium led by Thomas Rizk and Roger Thomas, the founders of Workspace Property Trust, has acquired from Griffin Realty Trust Inc. about 8 million square feet of suburban office space in 53 Class A buildings on 41 separate properties across the U.S., both companies announced Monday.

The deal reportedly establishes Workspace as the preeminent national suburban office and light industrial company in the U.S. To put that in numbers, the transaction nearly doubles Workspace’s holdings to 18 million square feet in 200 buildings in 22 U.S. metropolitan markets.

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GRT will retain a minority ownership in the portfolio. Equity capital is being provided by an institutional buyer identified only as “one of the world’s largest global investors.”

J.P. Morgan and Bank of Montreal (BMO) provided senior debt financing.

Jordan Bock, founder of real estate investment firm Mason Capital, served as strategic advisor and partner to Workspace and the consortium in connection with the transaction and will serve on Workspace’s board.

In a prepared statement, Rizk, who is Workspace’s chairman & CEO as well as a co-founder, characterized the portfolio as well-maintained and consisting predominantly of “blue-chip, single tenant, net lease buildings in high growth suburban markets.”

Workspace stated that it will now own and operate suburban office buildings in 14 of the top 20 U.S metropolitan areas: Atlanta, Philadelphia, Dallas, Charlotte, N.C., Tampa, Fla., Phoenix, Silicon Valley, South Florida, Houston, Portland, Ore., Seattle, Minneapolis, Chicago and St. Louis.

Further, the company reported that nearly 7 million square feet of the Workspace portfolio is leased by companies in the Fortune 1000.

Newmark served as advisor to Workspace on the debt financing, and Seyfarth Shaw LLP and McCausland Keen + Buckman served as legal counsel.

Eastdil Secured, Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, and BofA Securities served as financial advisors to GRT, and DLA Piper LLP (US), King and Spalding LLP, O’Melveny, and Hogan Lovells US LLP served as its legal counsel.

Pro and con on suburban offices

In a prepared statement, GRT President & CEO Michael Escalante, commented that the transaction reduces debt on the company’s balance sheet and de-risks its portfolio in consideration of current capital market conditions and the continued pressure that pandemic-related work-from-home trends are exerting on leasing demand and property valuations in the office sector.

Expressing a more optimistic viewpoint on the suburban office sector, Thomas, Workspace’s co-founder, president & COO, remarked that in the last five years, millions of Americans have moved from the cities to the suburbs and nearly one-third of all Americans today are considering moving away from cities post pandemic.

He added that this important demographic shift—core to the company’s original contrarian thesis—is led by Millennials, the largest workforce cohort in history, who appreciate the benefits of the suburbs and suburban offices: Shorter commutes, lower crime, less need for mass transportation, more affordable housing, better schools and of course, safe and flexible workplaces.

Thomas cited Intel, Oracle, McKesson, Tesla, Charles Schwab, Honeywell and Centene among the major corporations that have announced moves to suburban markets.