Wells Fund Buys 308,554-SF Office for $60M

IRVING, TX-Wells Real Estate Investment Trust, a public non-traded REIT based in Norcross, GA, has acquired Sterling Commerce Building. The 12-story, seven-year-old, 308,554-sf class A office building is in the affluent Las Colinas submarket of metro Dallas. The seller was Sterling Commerce, an affiliate of AT&T.

A Wells representative tells GlobeSt.com the closing price will be disclosed next week when the transaction is publicly filed. However, area brokers familiar with the Las Colinas office market tell GlobeSt.com the 100%-leased building along John Carpenter Freeway probably traded in the $200-per-sf range. That would translate to a $60-million tab as the estimated aggregate value of the transaction, Dallas brokerage sources say.

“We were attracted not only by a fully leased, very desirable property with strong tenants, but by the opportunity for future development,” Jeff Gilder, managing director of acquisitions for Wells Real Estate Funds says in a prepared statement. The building sits on a 16.3-acre site that could accommodate an additional one million sf of office space, Gilder says. The site was originally planned in 1999 as a three-building complex.

A sister fund, Wells REIT, acquired the nearby Las Colina Corporate Center I and II earlier this year. The newest acquisition brings the portfolio of Wells Real Estate Funds in the Dallas/Fort Worth market to nine properties, including five in nearby Irving.

Sterling Commerce, described by Wells as a supplier of multi-enterprise collaboration technologies, occupies 28% of the Sterling Commerce Building under a lease that expires in 2016. Caremark, a provider of prescription programs, occupies 59% under lease until 2014. A mix of other businesses complete the tenant roster.

CB Richard Ellis’ brokers Russell Ingrum and Gary Carr negotiated for the seller. Keith Willby, senior vice president of acquisitions for Wells, represented his company.