Deutsche asset management arm pays $220M for Las Olas City Centre

A JP Morgan investment manager sold the Las Olas City Centre office tower to Deutsche Bank for $220 million, marking one of the biggest office deals in South Florida so far this year. 

Records show 401 East Las Olas LLC sold the Class A Fort Lauderdale property, at 401 East Las Olas Boulevard, to TAF gg Las Olas LP, an affiliate of Deutche Bank’s asset management arm RREEF Property Trust. The buyer financed the deal with a $100 million mortgage from Wells Fargo.

Built in 2002, the 725,898-square-foot building has 408,064 square feet of leasable space, according to data from the CoStar Group. Rents average nearly $47 per square foot on an annual basis. Stiles Realty is the property manager, while ComReal Fort Lauderdale handles leasing.

Stiles announced last year that the building was fully leased. About 24,330 square feet has since become available, according to CoStar.

The 23-story tower, named the Bank of America Plaza at Las Olas City Centre, is anchored by its namesake bank with 56,751 square feet. Patriot National is the second biggest tenant with 49,129 square feet in addition to 116 other tenants, CoStar shows.

The LEED Gold certified building was renovated in 2005 and includes ground-floor restaurant and retail space. 5th Avenue Partners Ltd. developed the property on a 2.5-acre lot, and JP Morgan paid nearly $164 million for the Las Olas City Centre in 2011 at a 6.3 percent cap rate.

In Fort Lauderdale, recent investment sales include the SunTrust Center, a 270,000-square-foot complex that sold for $90 million in June. SunTrust sold the buildings to Steelbridge Capital.

South Florida has seen similarly big ticket sales over the past year. RedSky Capital and JZ Capital Partners bought the Esperante Corporate Center in West Palm Beach for $126 million in July. And two months earlier, Sumitomo Corporation of Americas bought the Miami Tower for the same total price as the Las Olas City Centre – $220 million – but a lower price per square foot. The Miami Tower traded for nearly $367 a foot, while the Fort Lauderdale building sold for $539 per square foot.

An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified the buyer of the Esperante Corporate Center from July. RedSky Capital and JZ Capital Partners purchased the West Palm Beach building, not Steelbridge Capital.