posted on April 29, 2011 01:53
Los Angeles-based Karlin Real Estate LLC purchased a 301,000-square-foot office and manufacturing building from a Dell Inc. subsidiary at the Tech Ridge complex in northeast Austin.
The companies would not reveal terms of the deal, but a 2003 Travis County appraisal estimated the building and land value at about $15.3 million. The building includes 75,459 square feet of office space, 16,109 square feet of mezzanine warehouse space, a full-service kitchen with in and outdoor dining areas, conference and meeting rooms, fitness facility, data center and 210,000 square feet of climate-controlled cross docked warehouse space.
Tech Ridge is a 1.875 million-square-foot commercial and retail planned development alongside I-35.
While Karlin wouldn’t reveal what they paid for the 12-year-old, 301,644-square-foot Class A space, officials said they felt fortunate to find an “excellent asset in an excellent market.” Managing Director Matthew Schwab envisions several potential options for the property’s future.
“There’s a good chance we’ll find a corporate tenant,” he said, because “Dell did such a fantastic job at keeping the building in tip top shape.” The structure has a good bit of flexibility, he added, and could be split into a multi-tenant facility.
Buildouts? “Absolutely,” he said.
Schwab wouldn’t reveal what his firm might ask for rent, but LoopNet showed asking prices ranging from $5.40 to $9.60 per square foot.
The buyer is the real estate unit of Karlin Asset Management, and overseas about $1 billion in un-leveraged equity capital. The company represented itself in the deal, while CB Richard Ellis's Jack Fraker led a broker team for Dell. A CBRE spokesperson in Dallas said they could “not speak at all about the deal.”
Round Rock-based Dell employs about 14,000 people in Central Texas. The deal is the latest in several real estate moves recently. The company is making improvements to its Round Rock campus, recently bought a building in Silicon Valley, and has factories planned in Israel and China. Officials also said recently Dell will spend $1 billion on research and development centers worldwide.
4/19/11, Austin Business Journal, Cody Ryan