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| News RELEASE |
Virgin Mobile Takes 20,000 SF at Mt Diablo Plaza
Walnut Creek, CA, July 20, 2003: Cellular communications company Virgin
Mobile USA LLC has signed a 20,281-sf lease for space at Mt. Diablo Plaza, a
two-building, 319,000-sf class A office complex in Walnut Creek that Loopnet
says is currently 26% vacant.
KBS Realty Advisors paid $60 million or $190 per sf for the building in March
on behalf of a separate account investor. A source at KBS declined to provide
the name of the investor, but said it was the first acquisition in the fourth
fund the company has established with this investor.
Virgin Mobil USA is a joint venture between Sir Richard Bransons Virgin
Group and Sprint PCS, which operates the largest all-digital, all-PCS nationwide
wireless network. The company is establishing its Western regional headquarters
in the building. KBS says Virgin was attracted to Mt Diablo Plaza for its alternative
location to San Francisco, as well as its proximity to executive housing, major
thoroughfares, freeways and the Bay Area Rapid Transit System.
This lease represents one of the few new tenant migrations form San Francisco
to the East Bay area in over one year, says KBS Senior Vice President
David Kray. Kray adds that the lease represents 20,000 sf of positive absorption
in a submarket that has experienced 224,766 sf of negative absorption since
the start of the year.
KBS Realty Advisors was represented in the Virgin transaction by Whiff Collins
and Tim Hogan of MCC Commercial. Virgin Mobile was represented by Mitchell Hertz
of Cushman & Wakefield.
Mt Diablo Plaza is comprised of the 10-story 2175 Building and the five-story
2185 Building. Space in the development is being marketed for lease at rates
in excess of $31 per sf per year, according to Loopnet.
Headquartered in Newport Beach, CA, KBS Realty Advisors is a premier investment
management firm specializing in real estate investments on behalf of select
private and public pension fund, endowment and foundation partners. Founded
in 1992, KBS has invested in excess of $4.5 billion on behalf of its clients. KBS
specializes in purchasing and repositioning under-performing real estate and
real-estate related assets in the United States.