PREI® forms joint venture to develop new Raleigh office building

PREI® forms joint venture to develop new Raleigh office building

RALEIGH, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Prudential Real Estate Investors agreed to enter a $54 million joint venture with Dominion Realty Partners to build Charter Square, an 11-story office property in Raleigh's downtown central business district, the company announced today. PREI®, acting on behalf of institutional investors in its open-end, value-added commingled strategy, is the real estate investment management and advisory business of Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYS: PRU) .

"Raleigh has become one of the best cities to live, work and play making it comparable to other tech hubs in popular cities around the country," said Soultana Reigle, managing director at PREI and portfolio manager of the firm's value-added, open-ended equity commingled real estate strategy. "We chose to invest in Charter Square because of the growing popularity of Raleigh's downtown business district, coupled with the rising trend among working professionals who now prefer to work in direct proximity to the 24-hour amenity base a city like Raleigh has to offer. These facts and the strength of Dominion Realty Partners make Charter Square a compelling investment opportunity for our fund."

Technology sector growth in the region over the last decade has largely been focused on the suburban Research Triangle Park. With 40,000 workers, the RTP has transformed Raleigh into a tech hub similar to Seattle, Austin, San Francisco and Boston. More recently, downtown Raleigh has turned its efforts to draw employees to its urban core following a growing national trend among technology sector employees in which they prefer to be located in an urban "live, work and play" setting.

The 236,000 square-foot Charter Square building will be at the corner of Lenoir Street and Fayetteville Street, the main thoroughfare of the downtown business district. Since 2006, more than 200 new businesses have opened in the downtown submarket, and more than 1,200 apartments are currently under construction.

"Charter Square is the cornerstone of the revitalization of downtown Raleigh, and Dominion Realty Partners is proud to partner PREI to develop this 236,000 square foot speculative office building," said Andy Andrews, CEO of Dominion Realty Partners, LLC.

"The leasing activity for this opportunity has been tremendous because of the location, ownership strength and aggressive rental rate structure, LEED qualities and tenant improvement package, as well as the exterior signage opportunities for sizeable tenants."

When completed, Charter Square will consist of an exterior courtyard, restaurants, retail space, in addition to office space. The building, which will be built to achieve Platinum standards under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program, will be situated above an existing 613-space subterranean parking garage.

PREI is a leader in the global real estate investment management business, offering a broad range of investment vehicles that invest in private and public market opportunities in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Australia and Latin America. Headquartered in Madison, N.J., PREI has other offices in Atlanta, Chicago, Miami, New York, San Francisco, London, Lisbon, Luxembourg, Munich, Frankfurt, Paris, Istanbul, Abu Dhabi, Mexico City, Sao Paulo, Beijing, Hong Kong, Seoul, Singapore, and Tokyo. In addition, PREI has representatives in Milan and is establishing a presence in Sydney (pending regulatory approval). As of March 31, 2013, PREI managed approximately $53 billion in gross real estate assets ($37.3 billion net) on behalf of more than 490 clients worldwide. For more information, visit http://www.prei.com.

Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYS: PRU) , a financial services leader with approximately $1.06 trillion of assets under management as of March 31, 2013, has operations in the United States, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Prudential's diverse and talented employees are committed to helping individual and institutional customers grow and protect their wealth through a variety of products and services, including life insurance, annuities, retirement-related services, mutual funds and investment management. In the U.S., Prudential's iconic Rock symbol has stood for strength, stability, expertise and innovation for more than a century. For more information, please visit http://www.news.prudential.com/

Prudential Financial, Inc.
John Chartier, 973-802-9829
john.chartier@prudential.com

KEYWORDS: United States North America North Carolina

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