Real estate firm continues Triangle expansion, lands 112,000-square-foot office building

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A real estate company is continuing its spree of property development and acquisitions in the region with its purchase of a large office building in Research Triangle Park — with plans for a major renovation.

Longfellow Real Estate Partners, which is based in Boston and has offices in the Triangle, has announced its acquisition of a 112,340-square-foot office building in Durham.

The company paid $12.175 million for the property situated on 9.5 acres at 1035 Swabia Court.

Longfellow’s planned renovations include outfitting the building with lab space and new amenities, in what is becoming one of the company’s signature moves.

“Our strategy of identifying and acquiring properties with great potential, and then remaking them as 21st-century office and lab destinations has proven effective across many markets; nowhere more so than in Research Triangle Park,” says Jessica Brock, Longfellow’s Durham-based partner. “We look forward to creating something new and vibrant at Swabia Court.”

In August, Longfellow paid Bain Capital Real Estate around $405 million for a 1.34-million-square-foot portfolio after the two companies spent years accumulating what were then traditional office spaces and outfitting them with labs and life sciences amenities.

The portfolio featured 18 buildings across four campuses including 11 buildings at Keystone Technology Park, five at Imperial Center, and the Biopoint and Hopson buildings.

They were 93 percent leased at the time of the sale, with 44 tenants, most of whom require lab space.

In addition to its work in RTP, the company is the owner and developer of the Durham Innovation District, which has seen a flurry of leasing activity as companies around the region flock to the new space.

At the 300 Morris building in Durham, several new tenants have signed onto the space in the last few months, including new headquarters for local companies. Fintech firm Spreedly announced it will be relocating its headquarters from its current 10,000-square-foot office on Foster Street in Durham, with plans to make the move in the spring of 2020. The new space will be 25,000 square feet on the fourth floor of the 7-story building.

In September, Raleigh-based design and engineering firm Kimley Horn announced it will be moving into nearly 9,000 square feet of space at Durham.ID.

The property also houses coworking giant WeWork and nationally acclaimed public accounting firm Cherry Bekaert LLP.

Meanwhile, the rooftop is set to feature Gonza Tacos y Tequilas’s new restaurant, Macondo Latin Cuisine, scheduled to open atop the Durham.ID building in late 2020.

Source: Triangle Business Journal