BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) has sold its U.S. headquarters campus in Las Colinas to Canadian real estate company Brookfield Property Group, reports Candace Carlisle of Dallas Business Journal. The campus had long been an important part of the company’s operations. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. According to Berry Review, the company is currently focusing on setting up offices closer to the government and enterprise hubs.
BlackBerry’s real estate sale was no big surprise
The Canadian smartphone maker announced in January that it has sold most of its real estate in Canada. That includes 15 office buildings in Waterloo region. Selling real estate is part of the company’s revival strategy to amass more cash as its new CEO John Chen leads BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) through a transformation. BlackBerry purchased the Las Colinas property in 2009. The campus was a growing employment base in the city. But as its business deteriorated over the last few quarters, the Waterloo-based company began to lay off employees.
Brookfield Property Group purchased the Riverside Commons, a 460,000-square-foot, 6-building office property, which includes two parking garages. The 12.9-acre property is located on State Highway 114. CBRE Group brokered the deal for BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB). CBRE said that the asset fetched investors’ attention because of its high-profile Las Colinas location. The sale wasn’t a big surprise because BlackBerry has been aggressively shedding its real estate assets, and Brookfield had been touring the campus frequently over the past few weeks.
BlackBerry to lease back 37% of the property
BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) has a presence in Irving since early 2000s. Irving later became the company’s first U.S. base in 2008. At its peak, BlackBerry had about 1,500 employees in Irving. But the company has laid off most of them. According to terms of the deal, the smartphone maker will lease back 37% of the property for its own operations.
BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) shares dropped 1.06% to $9.81 as of 1:14 PM EDT today.
