Global investors have purchased five suburban office properties across Dallas-Fort Worth as part of a $1.1 billion bet that demand for office-based real estate will continue to grow.

Commercial real estate company Workspace Property Trust recently acquired a majority stake in roughly 8 million square feet of suburban office space, including 840,000 square feet in North Texas. The deal adds 53 suburban office buildings on 41 separate properties to Workspaces’ real estate portfolio.

The acquisitions will grow Workspace’s holdings to 18 million square feet across 200 buildings in 22 markets nationwide.

The suburban office space was sold by Griffin Realty Trust Inc., which will maintain a small ownership stake in the properties.

Even though Workspace representative declined to disclose who the equity partner was, the firm said financing was provided by “one of the world’s largest global investors.” The world’s largest sovereign wealth fund is GIC Pte. Ltd., according to the Wall Street Journal.

The properties bought by Workspace Property Trust are predominantly single-tenant office buildings in high-growth suburban markets. The five property locations across North Texas include:

• 4300 Centreway Place, Arlington, 139,445 square feet.
• 919 Hidden Ridge Drive, Irving, 253,340 square feet.
• 13650 Heritage Parkway, Fort Worth, 164,333 square feet.
• 7668 Warren Parkway, Frisco, 158,135 square feet.
• 7624 Warren Parkway, Frisco, 125,900 square feet.

Roger Thomas and Thomas Rizk founded Workspace in 2015 with the goal of changing the workplace dynamic between businesses and their employees.

At the time, investing in suburban offices was a contrarian concept, but today, it is the clear solution for corporations looking to provide a safe, accessible, flexible, lifestyle-oriented, and community-based environment for their employees, said Thomas Rizk, chairman and chief executive officer for Workspace.

Many companies are relocating offices from areas downtown to the suburbs, said Roger Thomas, Workspace’s president and chief operating officer. He says the move is “driven by the redefinition of work as a result of the pandemic and the continued and unabated demographic shift to the suburbs.”

Rent growth downtown fell short of suburban markets, which outperformed in the second quarter of 2022, according to a report by CBRE Group Inc.

Seyfarth Shaw LLP and McCausland Keen + Buckman served as Workspace’s legal counsel on the acquisition, while Newmark Group advised the company on debt financing.

Newmark Group ranked Dallas-Fort Worth as the nation’s top property investment market, with sales volume reaching $22.9 billion in the first half of 2022.