Singapore’s CapitaLand Buying 2 Office Bldgs In San Francisco
USA – Singapore-headquartered CapitaLand, one of the biggest diversified property groups in Asia, is said to be acquiring 2 office buildings in San Francisco, reported The Business Journals on Thursday evening (5 November).
These consist of 510 Townsend Street, the headquarters of online payment processing firm Stripe, as well as 505 Brannan Street, which is occupied by Pinterest, an image sharing and social media service provider.
Unnamed sources revealed that the sale and purchase agreement (SPA) is targeted to be inked before Thanksgiving (26 November).
The price of the office buildings – which are owned by TMG Partners and Alexandria Real Estate Equities – is not known. However, Alexandria stated in its Q3 earnings report last week that it has pending asset divestments in San Francisco that are expected to close in Q4 and collectively valued from US$500 million to US$600 million.
A representative from CapitaLand neither denied nor verified the transaction.
“CapitaLand constantly seeks opportunities to expand our presence in key markets such as the USA. We will make an announcement if there is any material transaction,” said the spokesperson in an email sent on Wednesday.
While the company does currently have any San Francisco properties, it owns 21 multifamily & lodging properties as well as 28 business parks in other markets in the United States.
Notably, Stripe leases the 7-storey office building in 510 Townsend that measures 300,000 sq ft. Alexandria and TMG jointly purchased the property’s land parcel as a fully entitled project site in 2015 for around US$50 million.
The online payment processor plans to sublease the entire property as it intends to move to a bigger office in South San Francisco by 2021. Nonetheless, Stripe’s lease at 510 Townsend will end by 2027, and it has appointed CBRE to market the sublease space.
Meanwhile, Alexandria forked out US$34 million for the 505 Brannan Street site in 2015 and it teamed up with TMG to develop it. In August 2015, Pinterest pre-leased the entire 150,000 sq ft property until 2030, making it its 4th office in San Francisco.
