Sale of Imperial Center Asset to Drawbridge Realty Follows Full-Building Lease to High-Tech Company Nimble Storage in Latest Repositioning of Research Triangle Building
DURHAM, N.C. (May 11, 2015) – Rubenstein Partners, L.P. (including its affiliates, “Rubenstein”) and Grubb Properties announced the sale of Newcastle South to Drawbridge Realty, a real estate investment company based in San Francisco.
Rubenstein and Grubb acquired the 86,895-square-foot building, located in the prestigious Imperial Center business park, from GlaxoSmithKline in October 2012. After extensively renovating and rebranding the property, including a newly landscaped park-like courtyard, new roof and HVAC equipment, Rubenstein and Grubb net leased the entire building to Nimble Storage (NYSE: NMBL) in December 2014. Nimble Storage is a dynamic tech company based out of Northern California with a significant operation in Raleigh/Durham, North Carolina.
The sale marks the latest successful repositioning by Rubenstein and Grubb of excess corporate real estate in the Research Triangle Park submarket of Raleigh/Durham, North Carolina. Within its first year of ownership, the partners leased the companion building, Newcastle North, to Reichhold Industries as its world headquarters. In March 2014, the partners sold that asset to Capital Square Holdings, a real estate investment and advisory firm based in Glen Allen, Virginia. During that time, Rubenstein and Grubb also quickly repositioned the former Ericsson headquarters in Research Triangle Park, acquiring that 467,000-square-foot, two-building campus in December 2013, leasing it to global PC manufacturer Lenovo in March 2014. The partnership sold the Lenovo property earlier this year to a joint venture between UK-based 90 North Real Estate Partners and Dubai-based Arzan Wealth.
“Our strategy as a firm is to use our vertically integrated skillset to find opportunities to add value to underutilized office buildings,” said Dan Doyon, director of acquisitions and director of North Carolina and Florida for Philadelphia-based Rubenstein Partners. “Under our ownership, Newcastle South has been transformed from a vacant 1980s-vintage office building to a modernized, fully-occupied asset leased by one of today’s cutting edge tenants.”
“We are excited to again quickly reposition another headquarters-quality building in the vibrant Research Triangle market,” said Jonathan Nance, senior vice president of Charlotte-based Grubb Properties, a leading Southeastern U.S. real estate investment company. “We have successfully added value to the asset through strategic enhancements, and by re-tenanting the space with a credit tenant on a net lease.”
Newcastle South, located at 1015 Swabia Court Road in Durham, is in one of the Research Triangle’s premier office and industrial parks. Imperial Center is adjacent to world-renowned Research Triangle Park, at the nexus of I-540 and I-40 and four miles from Raleigh-Durham International Airport.
Ben Kilgore and Jeff Glenn of CBRE|Raleigh represented Rubenstein and Grubb in the transaction.
About Rubenstein Partners
Rubenstein Partners, L.P., founded in September 2005, is a private real estate investment management and advisory firm with operations throughout the Eastern U.S. The firm is led by its founder, David Rubenstein, and a group of senior real estate executives, and is focused on directing and managing value-added office real estate investments, primarily in the Eastern U.S. Rubenstein Partners’ predecessor company, The Rubenstein Company, LP and affiliates, founded in 1969, was one of the largest private owner operators of Class A office real estate in the Mid-Atlantic, owning and operating a portfolio of assets valued at approximately $1.2 billion at the time of its disposition in 2004. Since 2005, Rubenstein Partners has, on behalf of its investors and clients, invested in more than 10,000,000 square feet of office real estate assets throughout the Eastern U.S. For more information, visit www.rubensteinpartners.com.
About Grubb Properties
Grubb Properties, founded in 1963, creates exceptional real estate environments and provides premier customer service for our residents and tenants through the repositioning of apartment communities and office buildings and the development of multi-family communities, including our nationally trademarked Link Apartments brand. Our fully integrated management team identifies strategies that create long-term value for our clients. Grubb Properties’ growth is primarily funded through real estate investment funds with long-term horizons. People who care. Places that matter. For more information, visit www.grubbproperties.com.
Contacts:
For Rubenstein Partners
Great Ink Communications, Ltd. – 212-741-2977
Eric Waters (Eric.Waters@greatink.com)
Tom Nolan (Tom@greatink.com)
For Grubb Properties
Lili Curtis, 704-971-4884, lcurtis@grubbproperties.com