Phoenix, AZ (PRWEB) January 19, 2012
Cole Real Estate Investments (Cole), one of the nations leading investors in high-quality, income-producing retail, office and industrial real estate assets, announced it successfully completed approximately $ 2.5 billion of real estate-related acquisitions in 2011. After acquiring more than $ 5 billion of core real estate the past two years, the firm finished the year with nearly $ 10 billion of total real estate assets under management.
Based on its strategy of acquiring real estate assets that are subject to long-term net leases with creditworthy tenants, Cole added approximately $ 1.8 billion of single-tenant commercial assets, including $ 1.1 billion of single-tenant retail properties and $ 744 million of single-tenant office and industrial assets, as well as $ 611 million of multi-tenant retail assets and $ 109.4 million of commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS), in 2011. Overall, these acquisitions included 283 total properties, more than 15.8 million square feet of commercial real estate, and nine CMBS bonds.
Throughout the year, we saw high-quality assets come to market that fit our conservative investment strategy, said Thomas W. Roberts, executive vice president and head of real estate investments at Cole. We attribute our success in acquiring $ 5 billion of core real estate over the past two years to our world-class acquisitions team, top-quality legal and underwriting procedures, extensive relationships across the commercial real estate brokerage community, and ability to close all-cash deals.
Single-tenant retail acquisitions continued to be a primary focus for the firm. Noteworthy single-tenant retail acquisitions included a portfolio of 11 PetSmart stores in seven states for $ 74 million; 28 Walgreens in 17 states for $ 129.7 million; a Walmart Supercenter and Sams Club in Douglasville, GA, for $ 32.8 million; and a Whole Foods and Sierra Trading Post in Reno, NV, for $ 18.3 million. Other well-known retailers added to Coles single-tenant portfolio included Kohls, BJs Wholesale, Lowes, CVS, Best Buy, hhgregg, LA Fitness, Office Depot, California Pizza Kitchen, Advanced Auto and Hobby Lobby. Of the $ 1.1 billion of single-tenant retail assets acquired, approximately $ 387 million occurred via sale-leasebacks.
