American Realty Buys Jersey City Office Building for $101M

Glendale, California-based American Realty Advisors has purchased the 15-story office tower at 30 Montgomery Street in Jersey City, New Jersey for $101 million. The sale price is a marked gain for the sellers, a joint venture between Rubenstein Partners and Onyx Equities, which purchased the 315,385 square-foot building for $57 million in 2013. Rubenstein and Onyx completed a $20 million renovation project last year that includes a new lobby and replacing every window with architectural services from Spector Group. Terms of the deal were not disclosed; Cushman & Wakefield represented the sellers in the transaction.

"When we invested in 30 Montgomery three years ago, we could see the momentum building in the commercial and residential real estate market in Jersey City, and we believed that increased demand for quality office product would continue," said Stephen Card, regional director of Mid-Atlantic for Rubenstein Partners. "Together with Onyx, we developed a capital improvement plan to remake this as a trophy boutique office building to match its trophy location."

"30 Montgomery's location is particularly attractive based on the rapidly transforming Hudson Waterfront submarket, which is benefiting from strong population growth, sustained residential development, expanding cultural/entertainment/retail amenities and a diversification of the local employment base," Kirk Helgeson, American Realty Advisor's chief investment officer, said in a prepared statement.

The 16-story boutique office tower located in the Hudson Waterfront submarket of Jersey City was originally constructed in 1973, and was among the first office towers ever to be built along the waterfront. 30 Montgomery is convenient to the Exchange Place PATH Station and overlooking Manhattan, was 72% leased to 46 tenants at the time of sale, including the Jersey City Department of Housing, Economic Development & Commerce (HEDC).

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Rubenstein Partners Sells Atlanta Properties for $118.5M

Wells Core Office Income REIT, sponsored by Wells Real Estate Funds, has completed the acquisition of two Atlanta, Georgia office properties from Rubenstein Partners for $118.5 million, or approximately $204 per square foot. CoStar Group reported that no brokers were mentioned, and terms of the deal have not been disclosed, but area field reports show that Cushman & Wakefield was leasing the properties.

The properties at 64 and 66 Perimeter Center E were developed in 1985 and 1971 (the older building at 66 Perimiter underwent renovations in 1985 as well). Perimeter Center East boasts visibility from I-285 and accessibility to local banks, restaurants, and retail at Perimeter Mall. 64 Perimeter Center is a 15-story, 381,432-square-foot structure while 66 Perimeter Center E is an eight-story, 199,000-square-foot building. The properties were 96% leased at the time of sale with State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. anchoring the buildings.

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Parkway Properties Buying NASCAR Headquarters for $100M

Parkway Properties, Inc. announced this week that it had entered into a purchase agreement for NASCAR Plaza in Charlotte, NC for a purchase price of approximately $100 million. A joint venture between Trinity Capital Advisors and Rubenstein Partners is selling the 390,000 20-story office tower located in the central business district, according to an Orlando Business Journal article. Parkway will own 100% of the asset and plans to assume the first mortgage secured by the property, which has a current outstanding balance of approximately $42.3 million with a current interest rate of 4.7% and a maturity date of March 30, 2016; Parkway intends to amend and restate the loan upon assumption to current market terms. Closing is expected to occur by the end of the fourth quarter 2012 and is subject to customary closing conditions.

James R. Heistand, Parkway's President and Chief Executive Officer, stated, "The purchase of NASCAR Plaza represents another off-market transaction that enables us to expand in one of our key, target submarkets with a high-quality asset. NASCAR Plaza has a strong tenant base and is the headquarters for several well-known companies, and we expect to create additional value through leasing and rent growth in a submarket that we believe will outperform during a recovery."

Walker Collier, Partner at Trinity Capital, notes that while it's bittersweet to sell the building after less than two years of ownership, he is proud of Trinity Capital's work that created such value for the asset. "Rubenstein Partners and Trinity Capital‘s partnership worked tirelessly with our leasing and property management stakeholders to shift NASCAR Plaza from the tremendous distress it was under before it was purchased, creating the stabilized asset it is today," Collier said. "NASCAR Plaza will serve as a good case study for Trinity Capital and the value creation that we work towards for our investors and partners." Anne Vulcano and Jessica Brown of CBRE handled the building's leasing duties and Trinity Partners managed the property for the ownership group.

NASCAR Plaza, created by renowned Pei Cobb Freed & Partners and built in 2009, sits adjacent to the NASCAR Hall of Fame and serves as the headquarters of NASCAR. The building is currently 88% leased, with 139,000 square feet leased to NASCAR through May 2021.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.