Norwalk, CT, December 20, 2007 – GE Real Estate, a leading global resource for commercial real estate capital, has made a $13 million equity investment to acquire Great Hills Corporate Center, a three-building office property on 22 acres in Austin, TX.
The three, three-story buildings total more than 200,000 square feet and are located in a heavily wooded, campus style setting adjacent to the Arboretum area in Austin’s Northwest submarket. The Kucera Companies, an Austin based full service commercial real estate company, has been assigned the management and leasing of the project. The ownership group plans to make a substantial investment to improve the building systems infrastructure and aesthetic appeal to increase occupancy and attract market-level rents.
With the addition of the Great Hills project, GE and The Kucera Companies have amassed an Austin office portfolio in excess of 538,000 square feet valued at close to $100 million dollars. The Kucera Companies currently owns and/or manages and leases for itself, US and foreign based partners and investors totaling approximately 1.5 million square feet of office property throughout Austin.
"GE Real Estate quickly recognized this property’s value added potential,” said Gerald Kucera, president of The Kucera Companies. “Great Hills has a Class A location in an Austin market with above average growth in office jobs and its lowest level of vacancies in the past six years. This acquisition will strengthen our growing relationship with GE.”
"The Kucera Companies is an Austin based partner with a 30+ year proven track record of successfully turning around such underperforming assets,” said Chris Overberg, Central Region Managing Director for GE Real Estate North America Equity. "Our other Austin properties are exceeding expectations, and we look forward to collaborating with The Kucera Companies on more deals in the near future."
GE Real Estate North America Equity actively sources and manages single property and portfolio acquisitions to produce quality returns across Office, Multifamily, Industrial, Retail, Hotel, Parking and Assisted Living asset classes.
GE Contact:
(Press inquiries only)
John Oliver
Office: 203/750-3089
Cell Phone: 203/984-7757
john.oliver@ge.com
For other inquiries please call 1-888-GE-First extension 333
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Richard Ringer
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Notes to editors:
About GE Real Estate
GE Real Estate (
www.gerealestate.com) is one of the world's premier commercial real estate companies with more than US$72 billion in assets and a presence in 31 countries throughout North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia/New Zealand. Backed by GE's AAA rating, GE Real Estate offers a comprehensive range of capital and investment solutions including equity capital for acquisition or development, as well as fixed and floating rate mortgages for new acquisitions or re-capitalizations of commercial real estate. With a 28% compound annual growth rate since 1993, GE Real Estate is one of the world's fastest growing and most profitable real estate enterprises. This extraordinary record of success grows out of a reputation for collaboration and partnership; a depth of knowledge and experience and a history of building relationships, finding opportunities and opening doors for more than 5,000 owners, builders, borrowers and brokers worldwide.
GE Commercial Finance (
www.gecommercialfinance.com) offers businesses around the globe an extensive array of financial products and services. With more than US$276 billion in assets and expertise in the middle-market, GE Commercial Finance provides loans, operating leases, financing programs and innovative structured capital to help customers grow. Headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut, GE Commercial Finance is a wholly owned subsidiary of the General Electric Company (NYSE:GE), a diversified services, technology and manufacturing company with operations worldwide.
