Chinese Firm Buys SF Office Tower for $255M

A subsidiary of HNA Ecological Technology Group Co., Ltd., a division of HNA Group of China, has acquired the 29-story office building at 123 Mission Street in San Francisco for $255 million in cash. The Class A office tower was sold by the U.S. subsidiary of Great Eagle Holdings, a Hong Kong real estate company that also owns the luxury hotel chain, Langham Hospitality Group. Great Eagle Holdings' Bay Area arm, Pacific Eagle Holdings, paid $179 million for the office tower December 2013 when it purchased the office building from Sumitomo Corp. of America.

"As the prices of office buildings in San Francisco have appreciated rapidly over the past year, especially in downtown San Francisco where the building is located, the general partner and asset manager believes that it is appropriate to dispose of the property," allowing the seller "to take advantage of the favourable market conditions," Great Eagle Holdings said in the filing.

123 Mission, formerly the Pacific Gas & Electric Building, was designed by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill and developed by the Shorenstein Company in 1986; the Gensler-designed lobby was later renovated in 2009. At ground level, the building includes 2,577 square feet of retail space for four vendors, and below grade parking to accommodate up to 90 parking stalls. Located in the San Francisco Financial District’s South of Market submarket, the 346,000 square foot office building is two and a half blocks from San Francisco Bay and a short distance to the AT&T Park, home of the San Francisco Giants. The building is currently 95% occupied with 14 tenants, according to financial documents.

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Sumitomo Buys Miami Tower for $220M

Sumitomo Corporation of Americas (SCOA), the largest subsidiary of Sumitomo Corporation, one of the world’s leading traders of goods and services, has closed on the purchase of Miami Tower in the city's central business district for $220 million. HFF marketed the property on behalf of the seller, LaSalle Investment Management’s LaSalle Income & Growth Fund V, and procured the buyer. The deal more than doubles LaSalle's investment on the office building, which it purchased in December 2010 for $105.5 million from Wealth Capital Management, Inc. Prior to that, the building was purchased in 2003 for $85 million by Blue Capital.

Robert Obringer, vice president of Sumitomo Corporation of Americas Commercial Real Estate Unit, sees solid value in this latest acquisition. "We are excited to add Miami Tower to our portfolio of commercial properties here in the U.S.," explains Mr. Obringer. "As part of our constant management of assets, we are always looking for opportunities that will maximize return on investment, and this property offers a strong upside potential for in-place cash flow and the opportunity to increase value."

"Miami Tower is perfectly positioned to take advantage of the exciting renaissance of the Miami CBD, which has been ranked as top U.S. metro for job growth in 2015 and sixth most important city in the world for ultra-high net worth individuals" Hermen Rodriguez, senior managing director with HFF, said in a prepared statement.

Previously known as the CenTrust Tower, the iconic Miami Tower was originally built in 1987 and designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect, I.M. Pei. The 47-story tower located at 100 SE 2nd Street ranks in the top ten tallest skyscrapers in Miami and in Florida. The property consists of two separate structures: a 10-story parking garage owned by the city and the 47-story office tower built upon the air rights of the garage. The tower's three tiers allow it to have multiple color schemes in tribute to certain holidays and seasons. Major tenants include Carlton Fields, TotalBank, UBS Financial Services, Genovese Joblove & Battista, Ver Ploeg & Lumpkin and the General Services Administration.

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