NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–KKR, a leading global investment firm, today announced the closing of two real estate transactions totaling over $1.2 billion located in the greater Seattle region, including the Summit located in downtown Bellevue and the F5 Tower in downtown Seattle.
The Summit is a 915,000-square-foot Class A office complex in the Bellevue central business district. The complex is 99% leased, and is comprised of two existing LEED Platinum office buildings and a third building currently under construction, expected to be completed in Q3 2020. The properties are well located in the heart of the central business district, one block from the Bellevue Transit Center and the Bellevue Downtown Light Rail Station opening in 2023.
F5 Tower is a recently completed 43-story tower in the Seattle central business district, which includes the 100% leased 516,000-square-foot office condominium acquired by KKR alongside a separate 189-room luxury hotel. The property is architecturally significant to the Seattle skyline and home to F5 Networks as their global headquarters.
“We are excited to be making these two real estate investments in the Puget Sound Region, a market we believe has attractive long-term growth driven by a highly educated employee base, attractive cost of living relative to other top tier markets in the U.S. and high-quality of life,” said Justin Pattner, KKR’s Head of Real Estate Equity in the Americas. “The region is the headquarters to several of the world’s largest companies, and has recently attracted others to build a significant presence in the region. We are looking forward to growing our own presence there with these transactions.”
The buildings will be operated by Urban Renaissance Group, a Seattle based real estate investor, developer, and manager of real estate, who assisted with the acquisitions.
Since launching a dedicated real estate platform in 2011, KKR has invested or committed approximately $9 billion in capital across over 200 real estate transactions in the U.S., Europe and Asia as of September 30, 2019. KKR’s global real estate team consists of over 85 dedicated investment professionals, spanning both the equity and credit businesses.
These investments are being funded by accounts co-advised by KKR and KKR’s balance sheet.
About KKR
KKR is a leading global investment firm that manages multiple alternative asset classes, including private equity, energy, infrastructure, real estate and credit, with strategic partners that manage hedge funds. KKR aims to generate attractive investment returns for its fund investors by following a patient and disciplined investment approach, employing world-class people, and driving growth and value creation with KKR portfolio companies. KKR invests its own capital alongside the capital it manages for fund investors and provides financing solutions and investment opportunities through its capital markets business. References to KKR’s investments may include the activities of its sponsored funds. For additional information about KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE: KKR), please visit KKR’s website at www.kkr.com and on Twitter @KKR_Co.
About Urban Renaissance Group
Urban Renaissance Group LLCis a Seattle-based full-service commercial real estate company, engaged in acquisitions, development, asset management, leasing, property management and ownership in Seattle, Bellevue, Denver and Portland. Founded in 2006, the strategic premise of URG is that the form of the American City will change dramatically during the next 20 years. The company acts as a catalyst that understands and ignites that change, thereby building community, generating appropriate returns for its investors and opportunities for its partners and employees. Learn more at www.urbanrengroup.com.
TORONTO – One expert predicts Ottawa‘s changes to mortgage rules will help spur demand among potential homebuyers but says policies aimed at driving new supply are needed to address the “core issues” facing the market.
The federal government’s changes, set to come into force mid-December, include a higher price cap for insured mortgages to allow more people to qualify for a mortgage with less than a 20 per cent down payment.
The government will also expand its 30-year mortgage amortization to include first-time homebuyers buying any type of home, as well as anybody buying a newly built home.
CIBC Capital Markets deputy chief economist Benjamin Tal calls it a “significant” move likely to accelerate the recovery of the housing market, a process already underway as interest rates have begun to fall.
However, he says in a note that policymakers should aim to “prevent that from becoming too much of a good thing” through policies geared toward the supply side.
Tal says the main issue is the lack of supply available to respond to Canada’s rapidly increasing population, particularly in major cities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17,2024.
OTTAWA – The Canadian Real Estate Association says the number of homes sold in August fell compared with a year ago as the market remained largely stuck in a holding pattern despite borrowing costs beginning to come down.
The association says the number of homes sold in August fell 2.1 per cent compared with the same month last year.
On a seasonally adjusted month-over-month basis, national home sales edged up 1.3 per cent from July.
CREA senior economist Shaun Cathcart says that with forecasts of lower interest rates throughout the rest of this year and into 2025, “it makes sense that prospective buyers might continue to hold off for improved affordability, especially since prices are still well behaved in most of the country.”
The national average sale price for August amounted to $649,100, a 0.1 per cent increase compared with a year earlier.
The number of newly listed properties was up 1.1 per cent month-over-month.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
MONTREAL – Two Quebec real estate brokers are facing fines and years-long suspensions for submitting bogus offers on homes to drive up prices during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Christine Girouard has been suspended for 14 years and her business partner, Jonathan Dauphinais-Fortin, has been suspended for nine years after Quebec’s authority of real estate brokerage found they used fake bids to get buyers to raise their offers.
Girouard is a well-known broker who previously starred on a Quebec reality show that follows top real estate agents in the province.
She is facing a fine of $50,000, while Dauphinais-Fortin has been fined $10,000.
The two brokers were suspended in May 2023 after La Presse published an article about their practices.
One buyer ended up paying $40,000 more than his initial offer in 2022 after Girouard and Dauphinais-Fortin concocted a second bid on the house he wanted to buy.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
