Cole Real Estate Investments sold City Center Plaza, a 583,000-sq.-ft. class-A office tower in Bellevue, Wash., to an affiliate of CommonWealth Partners LLC for $374.7 million. The sale was completed on behalf of Cole Credit Property Trust III Inc. (CCPT III).
City Center Plaza is a 26-story building that serves as the headquarters for Microsoft Bing. The company occupies 96.3 percent of space at the building. CCPT III purchased the asset in July 2010 for $310 million.
“When our experienced real estate team brought this opportunity to us in the summer of 2010, despite industry naysayers, we felt this acquisition would be an excellent fit for our growing portfolio of mission-critical corporate properties,” said Marc Nemer, president and CEO of Cole, in a statement. “Today, not only have we seen a 21 percent increase in the property’s value, but we were able to deliver a return of 38 percent on the equity invested, creating significant value in the portfolio for the benefit of our shareholders.”