As part of its nearly $1 billion commercial property buy from Liberty Property Trust, the Workspace Property Trust just closed on its purchase of 11 office buildings in Broward County for $224.64 million.
County records show the private investment company just bought an assortment of suburban office buildings primarily clustered in two office parks in Sunrise and Miramar, with the remainder located within Boca Raton’s Park at Broken Sound. The properties house 1.14 million square feet of office space altogether, so the deal breaks down to about $197 per square foot.
According to data from the CoStar Group, the majority of those buildings are Class A offices boasting occupancies of more than 90 percent. Asking rents range between $12 per square foot and $33 per square foot, triple net, depending on the building.
Breakdown of the deal
Liberty’s portfolio in South Florida gradually came together over nearly two decades, starting with its $7.6 million purchase of the offices at 951 Northwest Broken Sound Parkway in Boca Raton. All tallied, the 11 were pieced together for just under $100 million, or about $87 per square foot, county records show.
The sale of these South Florida offices is part of Liberty’s strategy to offload its suburban real estate throughout the country. Including the 11 buildings in Broward and Palm Beach counties, the real estate investment trust is selling 108 office and flex properties located in Pennsylvania, Florida, Minnesota and Arizona to Workspace and its partner Safanad for $969 million. The portfolio houses 9.9 million square feet of leasable space.
While Liberty is downsizing its holdings, Workspace is on a veritable buying spree. This is the company’s second major portfolio acquisition since it was founded late last year by partners Rizk Ventures, Forum Partners, JMP Group and EverWatch Capital with the intent of building a large suburban real estate portfolio. Its first deal was the $245 million purchase another Liberty-owned collection of office buildings in Pennsylvania.
TRD researcher Eda Kouch contributed reporting to this article. Here’s a full breakdown of the South Florida properties below:
| NAME | 1 Morningside Park | PRICE RANGE | From $2,300,000 to $2,600,000 |
| ADDRESS | 321 West 110th Street | SIZE RANGE | From 1,265 Sq Ft to 1,410 Sq Ft |
| TYPE | New Building | AVG PPSF | $1,824 |
| TOTAL UNITS | 54 | TAX ABATEMENT | Yes |
| DEVELOPER | Artimus Construction | AVG COMMON CHARGE | $1.25/sf |
| BROKER | Brown Harris Stevens Select | FINISHED BY | Winter/Spring 2014 |