A trio of office towers in West Palm Beach was just sold for $20.5 million to investment management firm Crimson Peak.
The towers, named collectively the Forum, are located at 1655-1675 Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard just south of the Banyan Cay Golf Club & Resort.
They first hit the market in September 2015 when seller Panther Capital Management, which originally paid $13.7 million for them in 2010, listed the trio for sale with brokerage HFF.
Together, the three 10-story towers house roughly 278,367 square feet of rentable space. Panther renovated the 1970s-era buildings in 2013 and brought their occupancy up from 50 percent to 61 percent at the time of the sale. Major tenants included Payment Alliance International, Agency for Healthcare Administration and CO/LAB/ORATE West Palm Beach, according to data from the CoStar Group.
In the deal that closed earlier this week, the Forum was sold to an affiliate of Crimson Peak, a Miami-based investment management firm headed by Mark Paresky.
A conceptual rendering of Building A could look like as a hotel
The purchase price breaks down to about $73.6 per square foot. Rents in the building are typically near $20 per square foot, which HFF marketing materials described as 10 to 20 percent lower than those found in similar properties in West Palm Beach.
Ike Ojala, Herman Rodriguez and Jorge Portela of HFF brokered the sale on behalf of Panther.
“We received strong interest from a broad pool of investors looking to take advantage of the marquis location and significant size of The Forum.” Ojala said in a news release about the sale. “The Forum transaction continues the exciting renaissance of the Palm Beach Lakes corridor, which started with the completion of the Palm Beach Outlets adjacent to Forum and recent residential development in the area.”
HFF’s marketing brochure said Building A of the three could be converted into a hotel with up to 160 rooms. Panther had been moving tenants out of the building, leaving only four lessees remaining, in order to clear the way for future development. The remaining four tenants also have relocation clauses in their contracts, according to HFF.