Workspace Property Trust announced it has acquired approximately eight million square feet across 53 Class A suburban office buildings on 41 separate properties in high-growth markets across the country from Griffin Realty Trust Inc., establishing itself as the preeminent national suburban office and light industrial company in the US. Jordan Bock, founder of real estate investment firm Mason Capital, served as strategic advisor and partner to Workspace and the consortium in connection with this transaction, and will serve on the Board of Workspace. The $1.132 billion transaction, when combined with the existing Workspace portfolio, nearly doubles the size of the company's holdings to 18 million square feet with 200 buildings in 22 major metropolitan markets in the US.

Equity capital is being provided by one of the world's largest global investors. GRT will retain a minority ownership in the portfolio. J.P. Morgan and Bank of Montreal (BMO) provided senior debt financing.

As combined, Workspace will own and operate suburban office buildings in 14 of the top 20 US metropolitan areas, including Atlanta, Philadelphia, Dallas, Charlotte, Tampa, Phoenix, Silicon Valley, South Florida, Houston, Portland, Seattle, Minneapolis, Chicago and St. Louis. Approximately 40% of the Fortune 500 have headquarters in Workspace markets and nearly seven million square feet of the Workspace portfolio is leased by companies comprising the Fortune 1000.

More than 66% of the total commercial office inventory in the US is positioned within the suburbs, representing over 2.5 billion square feet. According to a recent CBRE report, US suburban office markets are recovering at a faster pace than downtown markets with stronger rent growth and vacancy reduction as the downtown vacancy rate increased by 20 basis points in the second quarter of 2022 to 17% while the suburban vacancy rate fell by 10 basis points to 16.8%. This was the first time in more than 20 years that the downtown vacancy rate surpassed the suburban rate.

With this acquisition, Workspace is well-positioned nationally with a strong orientation as a tenant-focused, lifestyle-oriented brand dedicated to supporting the needs of its corporate tenant partners. With services and office solutions designed to provide flexible working locations across its footprint, Workspace is able to deliver a “network effect,” providing ease of entry for partners with the desire for convenient and attractive locations appealing to their workforce across the country. Workspace maintains a strong commitment to sustainability and reducing its buildings' carbon footprints to the greatest extent feasible.

With an emphasis on appropriate environmental, social and governance standards in operations, Workspace takes its responsibility as thoughtful stewards of the communities it services very seriously.