brookfield office properties (BPO) Snapshot

Brookfield Office Properties Inc. announced that it is commencing construction of the second tower at Brookfield Place Perth. Tenant pre-commitments for approximately 40% of the 16-level, 34,000-square-meter (366,000 square feet) premium-grade office tower include professional services firms Deloitte and Corrs Chambers Westgarth, as well as Brookfield Multiplex. Brookfield Place Tower 2 will have large, efficient, column-free floor plates of approximately 2,100 square meters (22,600 square feet), conference facilities, and 110 parking spaces and is targeting a 5-Star NABERS base building energy rating. The project also incorporates a sheltered upper-level walkway across Mounts Bay Road to provide greater connectivity between the Perth Bus Port, Esplanade Train Station and Perth's City Centre. Construction of the new office tower will be undertaken by Brookfield Multiplex and is expected to be completed late in 2015. Brookfield Place Perth is emerging as the pre-eminent commercial precinct in Australia with premium office space, sophisticated restaurants, retail space as well as arts and cultural events for the public.

Norway's Oil Fund is reportedly in talks to acquire 50% stake in Broadgate Development from The Blackstone Group L.P. (NYSE:BX), Financial Times reported on June 7, 2013. According to reports, Brookfield Office Properties Inc. (TSX:BPO) and Deutsche Asset and Wealth Management are also interested in the stake.

Brookfield Office Properties Inc. announced that it has closed on commitments for up to $1 billion in financing on two of the four office towers at Brookfield Place in Lower Manhattan: the 2.5-million-square-foot 225 Liberty St. (f/k/a 2 World Financial Center) and the 1.8-million-square-foot 250 Vesey St. (f/k/a 4 World Financial Center). A consortium of banks led by Deutsche Bank, Royal Bank of Canada, Citibank, Bank of America and Wells Fargo have committed to lending $800 million initially with the ability for Brookfield to draw an additional $200 million. The term of the floating-rate (currently 3.44%) loan is three years, with two one-year extension options available.