Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing has acquired the 24-story Viad Corporate Center in an effort to expand its Phoenix office portfolio.
The Viad Corporate Center is a 488,000-square-foot office tower located within the central corridor of Phoenix. On-site amenities at the building include a state-of-the-art, 150-seat auditorium-style conference center, dining facilities and a 10,000-square-foot fitness center.
Combined with the adjacent 7.5-level parking facility, Viad Corporate Center offers a holistic campus that is home to some of the most reputable law, accounting and professional firms in Arizona.
MSREI recapitalized the asset’s ownership, restructured the existing securitized loan and committed to invest new leasing capital to enhance the value of the property. The acquisition occurred due to an existing partnership with McCarthy Cook & Co, a Costa Mesa, Calif.-based real estate investment firm.
“We are excited by the opportunity to add a signature asset to our portfolio of institutional-quality properties in Phoenix,” said John Kloop, co-CEO and co-chief investment officer of MSREI. “We are also very pleased to partner again with McCarthy Cook on this transaction given their extensive experience owning, operating, managing and leasing major assets in the Phoenix market.”
With this acquisition, the business partners now have six buildings that total approximately one million square feet in Phoenix. In addition to Viad Corporate Center, the partnership purchased five buildings in the Camelback corridor submarket of Phoenix in October 2010, including Park One, which is comprised of three buildings totaling 203,000 square feet and 24th & Highland, which contains two buildings encompassing 319,000 square feet.
The center was built in 1991 and served as the headquarters for Dial Corp., the former parent company of Viad Corp. The property was designed to corporate headquarters standards with redundant systems and is one of the most energy efficient high-rise office buildings in the area.
McCarthy Cook will be responsible for the management and leasing of the property with Jones Lang LaSalle representing space available for lease.
“McCarthy Cook is pleased to have completed the recapitalization of Viad Corporate Center,” said Edward Cook, co-president of McCarthy Cook. “We will continue to make improvements in this prominent central corridor office building that will benefit our current and future tenants in the improving Phoenix office market.”