Highwoods Remodifies Design - Analyst Blog

Highwoods Properties Inc. (HIW), a real estate investment trust (REIT), has recently revealed the third iteration of the conceptual design for the proposed office building of law firm Polsinelli Shughart, housed in the build-to-suit property in Country Club Plaza – an upscale shopping district and residential neighborhood in Kansas City.
 
Polsinelli had earlier signed a 20-year lease for the 192,000-square-foot Class A build-to-suit office building, which is scheduled for completion by 2013. However, the deal faced public resentment in view of the allegation that the proposed design would harm the aesthetics of the Kansas City shopping district.
 
Consequently, Highwoods was forced to change the design of the building, and the new motif preserves the so-called Balcony Building and the two-story tower located at the corner of the intersection. The modified structure would set the building back 170 feet from the curb of Broadway to provide ample space for a courtyard carved out of the existing storefront to provide access to the law firm building.
 
Furthermore, the color of the building would also change from light-gray to pale-brownish in keeping with the existing color code of Country Club Plaza. The new office building will have seven stories instead of eight, as proposed in the original plan. The building will be home to 500 Polsinelli Shughart employees, including 175 relocated from its downtown office.

Based in Raleigh, North Carolina, Highwoods owns and operates its properties through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Highwoods Realty Limited Partnerships. The company has interests in office, industrial, retail and service center properties, including development projects and apartment units. It also provides customer-related and fee-based real estate management services for its properties and third-party clients.
 
As of September 30, 2010, Highwoods had interests in 329 in-service office, industrial holdings and retail properties, spanning across 32.3 million square feet of gross leasable space. In addition, it also owned 580 acres of developable land.
 
Currently, Highwoods carries a Zacks #3 Rank, which translates into a short-term ‘Hold' recommendation and indicates that the stock is expected to perform in line with the overall U.S. equity market for the next 1-3 months. We maintain our long-term ‘Neutral' rating on Highwoods. We also have a ‘Neutral' rating and a Zacks #3 Rank for Cousins Properties Inc. (CUZ), a competitor of Highwoods.

 
COUSIN PROP INC (CUZ): Free Stock Analysis Report
 
HIGHWOODS PPTYS (HIW): Free Stock Analysis Report
 
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