South Florida-based Beacon picks up properties in U.S. ‘pockets of opportunity’

Towers of Coral Springs
Towers of Coral Springs

In six months Beacon Investment Properties has spent half a billion dollars acquiring class A office space in U.S. “pockets of opportunity,” the Hallandale, Fla.-based company told The Real Deal.

For now, these “pockets” may be tapped out in South Florida. Beacon’s latest acquisition streak netted it 3.1 million square feet in Houston, Dallas, Atlanta and Minneapolis. Beacon last acquired Florida property in 2010. Its active portfolio includes Golden Glades Office Park in Miami Gardens, The Towers of Coral Springs and Villaggio Plaza in Orlando.

“In Miami you are seeing a lot of activity, even Fort Lauderdale is starting to show some positive growth now, but the Miami properties, typically the returns are lower,” Terry Kennon, Beacon’s Dallas-based director of asset management, told TRD.

Beacon, managed by three co-founders and an attorney, all of whom are based in South Florida, uses private equity to purchase undervalued and distressed properties.

Sign Up for the undefined Newsletter

Founded in 2003, Beacon has five million square feet under management with goals to increase holdings by 60 percent over the next two years.

Beacon is continuing a strategy around the U.S. it first employed in Florida: buy low.

“We only buy properties at below market value and well below replacement costs,” Ariel Benata, Beacon’s co-founder and chief investment officer, said in a company release.

Benata, a native of Venezuela and New York University business school grad, said Beacon has the good fortune of institutional-investor partners and lenders to help “close quickly on opportunities where the seller wants a timely execution.”