Hines Global REIT Signs Amazon to Lease at Summit III in Bellevue, Washington
October 3, 2019
Amazon.com Inc. confirmed that it has leased more than 300,000 square feet at Hines‘ 17-story Summit III office tower being developed in downtown Bellevue, Wash., the Puget Sound Business Journal reported. The lease takes Amazon’s confirmed footprint in Bellevue to 1.6 million square feet, comprising 17% of the central business district’s office inventory. The report said that the footprint does not include the over 1 million-square-foot Bellevue 600 tower that Amazon plans to develop itself.
The Summit III property is owned by Hines Global REIT, Inc., a nontraded REIT advised by Hines Global REIT Advisors LP, an affiliate of its sponsor, Hines Interests Limited Partnership. Three properties, Summit I, Summit II and Summit III, are on the Summit Campus that was acquired in 2015. Summit I has an 8-year lease for 224,000 square feet with Puget Sound Energy. Summit II has a 13-year lease for 120,000 square feet with WeWork. In its 2019 report to shareholders, Hines Global REIT reported that it had executed a new 15-year lease for 374,000 square feet in Summit III with an undisclosed “investment grade technology tenant.”
As of June 30, 2019, Hines Global REIT had a portfolio of 12 real estate properties, consisting of office, retail and industrial assets, with an estimated aggregate value of approximately $2.4 billion. The 6.2 million square feet of leasable space was reported as 90% leased as of that date.
On April 23, 2018, in connection with its review of potential strategic alternatives available to the Company, the board of directors determined that it is in the best interests of the Company and its stockholders to sell all or substantially all of its properties and assets and for the Company to liquidate and dissolve pursuant to its Plan of Liquidation and Dissolution (the “Plan of Liquidation”). The principal purpose of the liquidation is to provide liquidity to stockholders by selling the Company’s assets, making payments on property and corporate level debt, and distributing the net proceeds from liquidation to stockholders. The Plan of Liquidation was approved by the affirmative vote of stockholders at the Company’s annual meeting held on July 17, 2018.
Since April 23, 2018, the REIT has sold 21 properties with an aggregate sale price of $2.0 billion. In total, the REIT has paid capital distributions and liquidating distributions of approximately $4.00 per share to stockholders from January 2018 through February 2019.
Sources: Puget Sound Business Journal, SEC, Hines Global REIT 2019 Report to Shareholders
