McCarthy Cook & Co. and JP Morgan Asset Management has acquired the Viad Corporate Center, a 24-story, 480,000 sq. ft. office building in Phoenix. The sale price was roughly $100 million. Viad bought the property from a partnership consisting of Mississippi-based Parkway Properties and Investcorp. Cushman and Wakefield represented the seller while the McCarthy/JP Morgan joint venture represented itself. The property is currently 96% leased.
Trammell Crow Co. and Principal Real Estate Investors have entered into a joint venture to develop as much as $1 billion in Class-A office properties nationally. Dallas-based Trammell Crow and Des Moines-based Principal plan to develop the properties over the next five years. The targeted markets will include Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles County, and Scottsdale, Ariz. The joint venture will announce new office development funds this year.
Blackstone Group has closed a $5.3 billion real estate opportunity fund. The New York-based firm's Real Estate Partners V fund is believed to be the largest real estate opportunity fund ever raised. Blackstone, which has spent billions taking listed REITs private in recent years, will have a total of seven funds worth a combined $12.7 billion. The placement agent on Real Estate Partners V fund is Park Hill Real Estate Group.
