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Introduction
Across the institutional office landscape, a distinct transaction category has gained meaningful momentum: the partial-interest transfer. These transactions include individual investors selling limited partner (LP) positions, individual lenders in a loan syndicate liquidating their positions, existing owners bringing in joint venture partners or “rescue” capital, and even fee simple owners selling their position in a ground lease in a collapsed structure to maximize value of the combined real estate. These transactions offer a targeted entry point into generational assets — often at a basis that would be difficult to replicate in an outright sale. The larger the asset, the greater the number of participant investors or lenders, and the higher the degree of complexity all correlate with the possibility of a partial-interest transaction.
Two recent Colliers-led engagements illustrate the breadth of this structure: an equity interest in Pacific Coast Towers (PCT), a 1.6 million square foot Class A campus in El Segundo, California, and a debt interest in the first-mortgage secured by 999 Third Avenue, a 985,958 square foot Class A tower in downtown Seattle. Taken together, these deals point to a broader shift in how institutional capital is accessing — and exiting — complex office positions.
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