Hamburg-based real estate investment manager Union Investment has bought The Catalyst office building in Sunnyvale, California.
The company acquired the property on behalf of Union Investment Real Estate’s open-end real estate fund, Unilmmo: Europa. The purchase price was not disclosed.
Built in 2020, The Catalyst is one of the newest trophy office buildings in this popular submarket, said Union Investment.
“The Catalyst, our second acquisition in the Silicon Valley, fits extremely well within our continued US growth story. Sunnyvale is a very attractive location situated within the valley, benefiting from its close proximity to the other desirable, but more expensive, submarkets of Palo Alto and Menlo Park. Sunnyvale also benefits from its adjacency to Stanford University, Santa Clara University as well as San Jose State, all of which offer Silicon Valley employers highly sought-after tech talent. As tech companies continue to redefine & optimize their post pandemic office needs, we anticipate vacancy rates in Sunnyvale to fall further in the near term and office rents are set to rise,” said Matthew Scholl, Executive Director and Head of Investment Management Americas at Union Investment.
The building offers roughly 195,000 sf of lettable office space and is fully leased to a business networking platform for 15 years.
The property is located immediately adjacent to the company’s headquarters and maintains a LEED Gold certification and WELL certified design.
“Catalyst is truly a best-in-class office property with a focus on sustainability and wellness. The building has an HVAC carbon filters for measuring that can measure air quality, for example and it and is also equipped with digital and automated building system controls such as hands-free entrances, elevators and doors. The View Smart Windows are a particular highlight, darkening automatically in response to outdoor conditions, thus reducing heat and glare without affecting the exterior view. This smart solution enables lighting and air conditioning costs to be reduced. Along with the outstanding credit profile and lease term of the tenant, these ESG attributes made The Catalyst particularly attractive for UniImmo: Europa,” said Willis Kim, Vice President and Head of US West Coast and Canada at Union Investment.
