Wells REIT Buys Prairie Stone Office Asset

HOFFMAN ESTATES, IL-Wells Real Estate Investment Trust Inc. has bought a 194,000-sf, three-year-old office building in Sears’ Prairie Stone business park. Before acquiring the Aon Center earlier this year for $465 million, Wells REIT made its presence felt in the northwest suburbs by paying nearly $90 million for the Windy Point office complex in nearby Schaumburg.

Terms were not released; however, if the acquisition was in the neighborhood of the $183 per sf Atlanta-based Wells paid for Windy Point in Schaumburg, also a recently completed project, the local deal was worth $35 million. Windy Point was bought with Zurich Kemper Life Insurance Co. leasing 300,000 sf.

“We are purchasing the property well below replacement cost, and it is well-positioned in the marketplace to be a quality, long-term portfolio asset that we expect to generate income for our investors,” says chiefinvestment officer David Steinwedell.

American InterContinental University leases 135,000 sf for its online division at Two Park Center while Philips Medical Systems has 33,000 sf.

“This acquisition underscores our corporate philosophy to buy buildingswith quality tenants in place on long-term leases,” Steinwedell adds.