After buying more than $1 billion worth of Class-A office property so far this year, the Wells REIT now says it will buy $500 million more — all of it Southern California. This acquisition spree will be focused on properties near Los Angeles, Orange County and San Diego.
This won’t be the first time that Wells, which pays cash for its properties, has bought office buildings in the region. In December, Wells paid nearly $160 million for Glendale’s Nestle Building. Nestle occupies the entire 545,000 sq. ft.
Overall, Wells plans to acquire $2.5 billion of new office property by the end of this year. Real Capital Analytics pegged the Wells REIT as the single biggest buyer of office property last year.
Wells, along with unlisted REITs such as Inland and CNL, are aggressively buying properties this year as many conventional players wait on the sidelines. Unlike their counterparts in the listed REIT universe, these unlisted REITs have been raising funds at aggressively and pouring the capital into new acquisitions.
