METLIFE, THE JOHN BUCK COMPANY AND GOLUB FORM PARTNERSHIP TO DEVELOP OFFICE COMPLEX IN DOWNTOWN SAN FRANCISCO

METLIFE, THE JOHN BUCK COMPANY AND GOLUB FORM PARTNERSHIP TO DEVELOP OFFICE COMPLEX IN DOWNTOWN SAN FRANCISCO

SAN FRANCISCO, October 06, 2015

MetLife, Inc. (NYSE: MET) announced today it has formed a joint venture with developers The John Buck Company and Golub Real Estate to build a 743,000-square-foot, Class A office tower near the Transbay Transit Center in San Francisco. MetLife is an equity investor in the partnership developing Park Tower at Transbay.

Construction of the 43-floor, LEED Gold pre-certified office tower will begin next month, with completion scheduled for June 2018. Park Tower, located at Howard and Beale streets, will be a component of the Transbay Transit Center, a multi-billion-dollar redevelopment project with residential, commercial and transportation facilities three blocks from San Francisco Bay. JLL brokered the deal.

“MetLife is excited to be involved in the Park Tower project in San Francisco as it fits our long-term strategy of developing core assets in markets with strong fundamentals,” said Robert Merck, senior managing director and head of global real estate for MetLife. “We are looking forward to working with the John Buck and Golub companies, both of whom bring many years of first-rate experience to real estate development and management.”

Kevin Hites, chief investment officer of The John Buck Company, added: “We’ve put a world-class team together for this project because we believe Park Tower will be a world-class corporate location for San Francisco companies long into the future. We look forward to showing those companies why they should call Park Tower home.”

Signature Addition to the Skyline 
In addition to 743,000 square feet of office space, Park Tower at Transbay will feature 14 sky decks offering tenants outdoor space as well as a ground level park and a stunning three-story lobby. The completion of the office complex is expected to coincide with the scheduled completion of the Transbay Transit Center. JLL is handling leasing for the building which also features bay and city views from more than 70 percent of the rentable floor space.

“The thriving micro-market of San Francisco’s Transbay neighborhood is one of the nation’s most desirable urban markets for commercial and multifamily real estate development,” said Michael Newman, president and CEO of Golub Real Estate. “We look forward to adding a signature tower to the skyline, defining this emerging mixed-use neighborhood with a distinctive design—and of course, proximity to the best public transportation in the country.”