Kuwaiti investment firm buys Citrix HQ building in downtown Raleigh for $85 million
The Citrix headquarters building in downtown Raleigh’s Warehouse District has been sold to a Kuwaiti investment firm for almost $85 million.
Boubyan Capital Investment Company bought the 189,950-square-foot building for $84.75 million, roughly $446 per square foot. That’s the second-highest price per square foot ever paid for a building in Raleigh. (The record price per square foot is $459, held by the CAPTRUST Tower in North Hills.)
Boubyan Capital is the investment arm of the Boubyan Bank, based in Kuwait City.
Reuters reported that Boubyan Bank recently acquired the Bank of London and the Middle East, the largest Islamic bank in Europe.
“Downtown Raleigh and the Warehouse District continue to attract development that drives more creative-class jobs to the area,” Ben Kilgore, executive vice president at CBRE|Raleigh, said in a news release. “The deal’s near-record pricing is a testament not only to the creative environment at the Citrix Building, but also the market’s available educated workforce, lifestyle and moderate cost of living in Raleigh and throughout the Triangle market.”
The building will continue to be fully occupied by Citrix, whose entrance into the property in late 2014 with 600 employees was seen at the time as a harbinger of coming growth in the Warehouse District and Glenwood South.
Raleigh developer Greg Hatem, who has renovated buildings downtown since 1995 with his company Empire Properties, described Citrix to the News & Observer in 2014 as a “big catalyst” that was driving all the economic growth in the area.
Developments such as Kane Realty’s 17-story Dillon building and the Raleigh Union Station followed the Citrix Building. More are planned, such as a 40-story GoTriangle tower and three six-story apartment buildings from Kane Realty.
In downtown Raleigh, the average annual lease price per square foot of Class A office space is $32.72, according to the 2019 third quarter office market report from CBRE|Raleigh.
Incentives for Citrix
The News & Observer previously reported that Citrix received over $9 million in state and local incentives in choosing to move to the Warehouse District and Glenwood South neighborhoods.
The property was acquired in 2012 by Raleigh-based Cherokee Partners and Crown Co., who specialize in renovating old buildings. The N&O reported previously that they renovated part of the 1960s-era Dillon Supply warehouse to Citrix’s needs.
It was later bought by New York real estate firm JMC Holdings in December 2014 for $68.5 million, then a record-setting price. As income-focused investors, they were attracted to Citrix’s 15-year lease and the site’s downtown location.
According to CBRE, the Warehouse District has 1 million square feet of office space completed, under construction or planned.
The sale by JMC Holdings was arranged and announced by the commercial real estate firm CBRE|Raleigh.
This story was originally published December 11, 2019 at 6:25 AM.
