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Excel Realty Holdings of San Diego Buys Beijing Office Tower, a First for Any U.S. Investment Firm

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

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Excel Realty Holdings, LLC, a San Diego-based real estate development, investment and management firm, has announced it has completed the acquisition of a Class A, Western-style, 17-story office tower in the Beijing Finance Street district for an undisclosed dollar amount.

According to Gary B. Sabin, Excel Chairman/CEO, Excel has become the first investment firm from the West to purchase a Class A office tower in Beijing Finance Street. The office tower is called Excel Centre Beijing.

"We have been told that we are the first investment firm from the West to offer such high-quality office space within Beijing Finance Street," Sabin said. "The supply of Class A office space in Beijing is limited and is in very high demand among international and local tenants. Leasing is now underway at the Excel Centre, and the government is offering incentives to foreign financial institutions which relocate to the area."

Sabin said construction on the approximately 400,000-square-foot office tower was supervised by a team of engineers hired by Excel Realty Holdings. Construction began in 2004, and was completed in December 2006. Skidmore, Owings & Merrill Ltd. of New York provided the master plan for the area.

Located at 6 Wu Ding Hou Street, the Excel Centre features back-up generators, state-of-the-art telecommunications, high-speed elevators and three levels of underground parking. The standard office floor space is approximately 25,000 square feet. The bottom two floors are designed for retail and service tenants. The office building is within walking distance of a Beijing Metro Line.

"We spent almost five years researching and preparing for our move into China," Sabin said. "Our own staff monitored the progress of construction to ensure that the Excel Centre Beijing would be built to the highest quality standards that international tenants demand. We have set a new standard for the area and will maintain our own on-site property management team to ensure quality tenant relationships."

"The vision the Beijing government presented to us several years ago is finally becoming a reality," said Spencer G. Plumb, Excel's Senior Vice President. "The multi-national corporations they were hoping to attract are now coming to Finance Street. In 2006, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, UBS and other major financial institutions relocated to Finance Street to be closer to their Chinese counterparts. With this new supply of Class A office space and amenities, we are expecting to see even greater emphasis placed on Finance Street by multi-national corporations."

Publication date: 2007-06-13


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Source: Business Wire