Alexandria Quietly Amassed 2M SF Portfolio in Austin

A California-based real estate investment trust has quietly assembled a massive portfolio in Austin.

Alexandria Real Estate Equities amassed nearly 2 million square feet between 14 buildings by the end of last year. The acquisitions make it a significant property owner in Central Texas, but the firm has been hush-hush about its plans for them, the Austin Business Journal reported.

Alexandria, whose CEO is Peter Moglia, does not appear on real estate deeds filed in Travis County, as its holdings are cloaked by intermediaries and LLCs. There are some clues as to what the REIT’s plans are, though.

The company bought two buildings at 10th and Red River streets — the site of the Teacher Retirement System of Texas headquarters — for $108 million in October, according to its latest annual SEC filing.

The other buildings Alexandria owns in Austin are part of what the firm calls an “intersection campus.” While its location wasn’t specified, filings indicate that the campus has 12 buildings totalling about 1.5 million square feet. This is on par with the REIT’s track record of developing “mega campuses,” as it’s done in Boston, San Francisco and Raleigh. These campuses can often be quite spread out, the outlet said.

It appears that eight of the 12 buildings are in the Parmer Austin campus in North Austin, developed by Karlin Real Estate, and four buildings are in the Parmer Riata campus, which was 100 percent leased by Apple at last check.

Liens released in November bridged the connection between Alexandria and the two properties, indicating that they were purchased under two separate LLCs. One that’s called 507 E Howard Lane Holding took out a $186 million loan. Documents referred to Alexandria as the “owner and holder of the note and lien.” Mark Hikin, Alexandria’s vice president of real estate legal affairs, signed the releases.

—Quinn Donoghue