SunTrust Building at 777 Brickell Sold for $140M

A private South American group picked up the SunTrust Bank building at 777 Brickell Avenue in Miami, Florida this month for $140 million, or $238 per square foot. In a deal brokered by CBRE, CBRE represented the seller, Brickell Office Plaza (whose managing member is Peter Dicorpo of CBRE Global Investors), in the deal. Terms or the name of the buyer were not disclosed, according to a South Florida Business Journal article.

"Miami continues to draw significant capital from intelligent, well-informed investors," said CBRE Vice Chairman Christian Lee in a statement. "777 Brickell, one of only four waterfront sites on Brickell Avenue, is just the latest example of that."

"The unprecedented growth and transformation of the CBD along with the world-class location of the property provide a tremendous upside opportunity for new ownership through the operation of the institutional-quality office building as well as potential future redevelopment," added CBRE Vice President Amy Julian.

Built in 1980, the 13-story office tower with 288,485 square feet and an adjacent 5-story parking structure previously sold for $44.5 million, when Brickell Office Plaza purchased it in 2002, according to Miami-Dade County property records. the building was 93% leased at the time of sale with major tenants including CBRE, SunTrust, UBS, Banco de Brasil, Truluck's, BlackRock and International Paper.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

550 Biltmore in Coral Gables Sold for $50M

The multi-tenant office and mixed-used project at 550 Biltmore in Coral Gables, Florida sold this month as a Prudential Real Estate Investors affiliate listed as PR 550 Biltmore Way purchased the property for $50.2 million. The trophy property was sold by KPERS Realty Holding #39, which is managed by Boston-based AEW Capital Management, in a deal brokered by CBRE. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The building last sold in 2004 for $35.8 million.

"While Coral Gables always draws significant investor interest, 550 Biltmore surpassed the norm," said Christian Lee, vice chairman of CBRE. "We believe that is attributable to factors including: the high quality of the building itself, an increased demand by both domestic and off-shore capital for trophy properties and an overall improvement in the office market fundamentals."

"550 Biltmore's iconic, pyramid-shaped design affords its tenants with a plethora of outdoor terraces from which to enjoy the sublime Coral Gables cityscape of world-class golf courses, historical Mediterranean revival buildings, magnificent fountained plazas, a vibrant commercial core, and a lush and verdant landscape that crystallizes the ‘City Beautiful' movement that drove the City's design and incorporation nearly 100 years ago," added José Lobón, CBRE Senior Associate.

Originally constructed in 1986 by Miami developer Al Sakolsky, 550 Biltmore is a 160,000-square-foot, 14-story pyramidal landmark in downtown Coral Gables with a facade of imported Italian travertine marble and black granite. The building has been awarded multiple Energy Star labels for operating efficiencies, with a current Energy Star rating of "94", owed in part to the $4 million in capital improvements made since 2004. At the time of sale, the property was 86.4% leased and is anchored by UBS, which occupies more than 40,000 square feet and has entered a long-term lease expansion.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Brickell Bayview Centre Sold to Banyan Street Capital Affiliate

Colony Realty Partners, an investment company that acquires and manages commercial real estate with offices in Boston and Irvine, announced this week that its affiliate, CRP-W Brickell LLC, had sold Brickell Bayview Centre in Miami for $70 million. The 33-story building at at 80 S.W. Eighth Street was acquired by an affiliate of Banyan Street Capital, according to a South Florida Business Journal article. The buyer assumed the $47 million mortgage on the property that was made by ACRC Lender W LLC.

Originally constructed in 1986, Brickell Bayview Centre has about 286,000 leasable space feet on 2.4 acres in the Brickell Financial District submarket of Miami/Dade Count. The building was 89% leased at the time of sale to 47 unnamed tenants. "The continued westward shift of the submarket's amenity base, along with immediate access to the Metrorail, provides tremendous upside potential to the new ownership through future leasing," said CBRE vice chairman Christian Lee.

According to a June 2007 CoStar report, Colony Realty Partners acquired Brickell Bayview Centre from a joint venture of America's Capital Partners, State of Utah Retirement Systems, and CBRE Investors for $81.9 million, or about $286 per square foot; the 2007 selling venture acquired the property in early 2005 for $50.2 million.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

The Arbors Office Park Sold for $12.75M

RexxHall Realty purchased a multi-building office park in South Florida from TA Associates for $12.75 million this month. Details of the sale were not disclosed, but it was noted that Stuart T. Kapp of Proskauer Rose LLP served as RexxHall’s legal counsel while CBRE’s Institutional Group and Private Capital Group represented the seller. The property sits at 1615, 1625 at 1690 S. Congress Avenue in Delray Beach and is currently 45% occupied with major tenants including Alfred Angelo, Sperry & Hutchinson, Twin-Star International and Escalate.

RexxHall’s Aaron Stauber told the Business Journal that the company thinks South Florida has matured significantly in the last two decades. The Arbors is a great opportunity because each of the buildings is different, and each has potential that has not been maximized, he said.

"RexxHall has significant opportunity for upside potential through the lease-up of the vacant space, which they are confident that they will be able to accomplish," said CBRE Vice Chairman Christian Lee in a statement. "They have a big capital budget and plan to renovate the buildings and implement an aggressive leasing program."

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.