Verizon has sold its Irving campus to a Chicago investor in a $344 million transaction.
Mesirow Financial acquired the 1.15-million-square foot complex in a deal that sees part of the property at Hidden Ridge Road near Texas 114 retained by the telecom company for possible future development.
Cushman & Wakefield served as financial adviser and agent for Verizon in the transaction as the firm plans to rent its offices for at least 20 years.
“This transaction provides our company with immediate financial benefits and does so in a way that supports our continuing interests in the development of Las Colinas,” said John M. Vazquez, senior vice president and head of real estate for Verizon, commenting in a news release.
The campus – home to about 2,800 full-time employees and contractors but expected to reach 3,500 by year’s end – was acquired by Mesirow Realty Sale-Leaseback Inc., a division of Mesirow Financial, a diversified financial services firm. Verizon will continue to occupy the regional headquarters, with the transaction having no impact on the company’s business operations at the location, according to the company.
The transaction sees Mesirow complete its second major Verizon sale-leaseback purchase in recent years. In 2015, it acquired a 1.4 million-square-foot Verizon operations center in Basking Ridge, NJ for $650.3 million.
“This transaction allows us to deepen our commitment to the Texas market and consolidate employees at this world class facility while supporting further development options in the Hidden Ridge area,” said Jim Tousignant, Verizon’s director of global real estate.
The Irving campus houses several business units within Verizon Communications while serving as the South Central Market headquarters for Verizon Wireless. The campus is adjacent to a 110-acre site owned by Verizon that has recently received approval to incorporate transit oriented development uses, which enables the potential development of a mix-used office park with a lifestyle core served by a planned Dallas Area Rail Transit rail stop just steps away from the Hidden Ridge campus.
Verizon and its predecessor company, GTE, has occupied the facility since its construction in 1991.
