Highwoods Properties, Inc. HIW recently announced that it has agreed to acquire Advance Auto Parts Tower, a 20-story, Class AA office tower. The property, spanning around 346,000 square feet, is located in Raleigh’s mixed-use North Hills Best Business District (“BBD”).

Located adjacent to Highwoods’ owned CAPTRUST Tower, the property under consideration, built in 2020, is duly LEED-gold certified. As of Dec. 31, 2024, it is fully leased with a weighted average lease term of 8.2 years. Highwoods plans to finance the above acquisition by using the proceeds of the recent non-core asset sale in Tampa, FL.

The move will aid HIW in meeting the growing demand for premier office properties with class-apart amenities to retain top talent from various companies. Moreover, an increasing number of tenants are emphasizing return-to-office mandates for their workforce, fueling the demand for high-quality office spaces.

Per Ted Klinck, President and CEO of Highwoods, “We are excited to expand our presence in the vibrant North Hills mixed-use BBD with the addition of Advance Auto Tower, which is adjacent to our CAPTRUST Tower. Our nearly 650,000 square feet of commute-worthy office positions us to benefit from the strong demographics that have attracted so many businesses, residents and guests to North Hills specifically, and Raleigh overall.”

Highwoods: In a Nutshell

Highwoods follows a disciplined capital-recycling strategy that entails disposing of non-core assets and redeploying the proceeds in premium asset acquisitions and accretive development projects. The above acquisition highlights the company’s efforts to expand its footprint in high-growth BBD markets and improve the quality of the overall portfolio through acquisitions and development.

Highwoods’ well-diversified tenant base, efforts to expand in the high-growth markets and balance sheet strength are its key growth drivers. However, competition from other players is likely to limit its pricing power and hurt profitability. High interest expenses add to its woes.

Over the past year, shares of this Zacks Rank #4 (Sell) company have risen 16.1%, outperforming the industry’s growth of 5.7%.

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Stocks to Consider

Some better-ranked stocks from the broader REIT sector are SL Green Realty SLG  and Welltower WELL , each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for SL Green Realty’s 2025 FFO per share is pegged at $5.52, which suggests year-over-year growth of 9.7%.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Welltower’s 2025 FFO per share stands at $4.88, which indicates an increase of 13% from the year-ago period.

Note: Anything related to earnings presented in this write-up represents FFO, a widely used metric to gauge the performance of REITs.

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Highwoods Properties, Inc. (HIW) : Free Stock Analysis Report

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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