Swift to buy 1MSF office complex

The investment firm led by former Blackstone executive Christopher Peatross has entered into agreements to buy California Center for $159.7 million from a joint venture between Blackstone and RREEF.

San Francisco-based investment firm Swift Realty Partners has entered into agreements to purchase a one million-square-foot office complex in the San Francisco Bay Area from a joint venture between The Blackstone Group and RREEF (now Deutsche Asset and Wealth Management) for approximately $159.7 million, according to data provider Real Capital Analytics. 
 
California Center, a Class A office park in Pleasanton, California, is comprised of six buildings. The complex currently is 67 percent vacant and on its way to 85 percent vacancy this summer, when Ross Stores is set to vacate 180,931 square feet, according to a Pleasanton research and forecast report from Colliers International. 
 
The transaction is the latest news from Swift since the firm closed its debut fund, Swift Realty Partners Fund I, on $325 million less than two weeks ago.  The firm – started by Christopher Peatross, the former office property portfolio manager at Blackstone– held a first close for the value-added fund on $75 million in August.
 
California Center is a good fit for the fund, which acquires value-added office buildings along the West Coast, specifically in the San Francisco Bay Area.  Other investments on behalf of the fund include the purchase of the 77,000-square-foot Corporate Terrace office building in Lafayette, California for $20 million in October.  Swift projects that, with leverage, Fund I will have approximately $750 million in buying power. Â