Eight Wells Fargo office buildings in Virginia come under new ownership

Oaktree Funds, in partnership with National Financial Realty (NFR), has acquired a 40-building, 3.4 million-square-foot office portfolio for $240 million leased to Wells Fargo Bank. The portfolio includes eight buildings in Virginia totaling 529,898 square feet. 

The largest of those buildings, at 443,181 square feet, is located at 7711 Plantation Road in Roanoke.  It is entirely leased by Wells Fargo as an operations center. Other buildings of fewer than 20,000 square feet are located in Harrisonburg, Clintwood, Blacksburg, Christiansburg, Amherst and Brookneal.

The buyers are Oaktree funds, an affiliate of Los Angeles-based Oaktree Capital Management L.P. and National Financial Realty (NFR) Inc., a privately-held investment company, also in Los Angeles.

They acquired the portfolio, which is 90 percent leased to Wells Fargo Bank, from First States Investors B, L.P. The acquisition makes NFR the largest privately-held investment firm focused on acquiring and operating properties leased to regulated financial institutions.

“Acquisition of this geographically diverse portfolio fits perfectly into NFR’s investment strategy to acquire excellent properties leased to leading financial institutions that offer reliable cash flow and significant potential for appreciation,” Vincent E. Pellerito, the president and CEO of NFR, said in a statement. 

The 40 buildings are leased on a long-term basis to Wells Fargo and include mission critical operations facilities as well as branch offices in eight Eastern and Southeastern states. Besides Virginia, they include North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Georgia. 

North Carolina is home to the largest share of the portfolio with eight buildings totaling 1.2 million square feet including a 450,000-square-foot regional operation center in Raleigh.