Owen Thomas, chairman and CEO of BXP (NYSE: BXP), participated in a video interview during Nareit’s REITworld: 2023 Annual Conference held Nov. 14-16 in Los Angeles.
Thomas said that Norges Bank recently purchased a 45% interest in two large BXP developments currently underway in East Cambridge, Massachusetts.
“This transaction resulted in us raising $750 million of equity, which is a very significant transaction, particularly for 2023,” he said. “The deal allowed us to improve the yield on the development of these two assets to nearly 8%.”
Thomas said that although the office sector is “out of favor,” BXP regularly communicates to the market that the sentiment is much worse than the reality.
“That’s primarily because BXP operates in the premier workplace segment of the office industry and the vast majority of our assets are considered to be in the top 10% of the peer set,” he said.
Thomas added that BXP’s occupancy is currently at 89% and that the company’s number one priority for 2024 is to lease all of its properties.