News

SEATTLE, May 20, 2005 – An investor group led by Meriwether Partners has acquired the 242,000-square-foot Capitol City Business Center located in Salem, Oregon. The purchase price was $11,550,000. The seller, State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company® was represented by Marc Renard and Tom Usher of Cushman & Wakefield.

Capitol City Business Center, formerly known as State Farm’s Salem Operations Center, is a single-story corporate campus that consists of 211,000 square feet of office, 31,000 square feet of warehouse space and 29.5 acres of land. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company® will leaseback approximately 130,000 square feet on a short-term lease basis with the balance of the building available for lease.

“The acquisition of the Capitol City Business Center reflects our continued effort to find value-added investment opportunities in the Pacific Northwest,” said Robert Briscoe, principal at Meriwether Partners. “Given the excellent condition of the building, the strength of the Salem-area workforce, and the fact that it’s the largest contiguous block of single-story office space in the Northwest, we are optimistic about re-leasing the building.”

The new owner has hired Salem-based Curt Arthur of Mountain West Coldwell Banker Commercial to lease the facility. The property will be managed by the Portland office of GVA Kidder Mathews.