Dealmaker: Transwestern Investment Group, JDM Partners Close $928M Sale-Leaseback Transaction

Corporate Properties Trust III–a partnership between Transwestern Investment Group, Houston, and equity partner JDM Partners, Phoenix–acquired Marina Heights, a five-building office park in Tempe, Ariz.

State Farm Auto Insurance Co., Bloomington, Ill., sold the two million square-foot asset and will lease the space back from the new owners.

The parties did not disclose financial details, but Business Real Estate Weekly Arizona reported a $928 million price.

Law firm King & Spalding served as legal advisor and Eastdil Secured as debt capital adviser on the transaction.

Transwestern CEO Larry Heard said Marina Heights represented the third in a series of State Farm sale-leaseback transactions. “This transaction resembles the acquisition of the 2.2 million-square-foot State Farm campus in Dallas’ CityLine project last fall and the 591,000-square-foot State Farm campus in Atlanta this summer,” he said, noting State Farm made the sale-leaseback strategy a priority several years ago.

Transwestern will manage all three properties, Heard said.

Located at 300-600 Rio Salado Parkway in Tempe, Marina Heights spans 20 acres and includes ground-floor retail and restaurants. The Class A asset sits between Arizona State University and Tempe Town Lake reservoir near Phoenix Sky International Airport. The property will be a stop for The Tempe Streetcar, a three-mile public transit project currently under construction that will connect Arizona State to the airport, downtown Phoenix and west Mesa.