South Florida office buildings were a valuable commodity in 2018, with the year’s top five deals each selling for more than $100 million, topping off at nearly $250 million.
Demand for office investments remained strong during the year, despite predictions of a slowdown amid political and economic global uncertainty, said Matthew Cheezem, managing director at JLL South Florida.
“All of the sales were indicative of pent-up demand that is bullish on South Florida,” he said.
Buyers in the tri-county market represented a mix of international, local and regional entities, ranging from private developers and investors to public real estate investment trusts, Cheezem said.
“When you put quality product on the market these days there’s a line of investors, all different types, evaluating the properties,” he said.
More sales are pending, and will spill over into next year, with “no immediate drop-off in that kind of demand,” Cheezem added.
Here, The Real Deal outlines the top five office sales in South Florida in 2018, according to data from Colliers International South Florida and TRD research.
Sabadell Financial Center sells for $248.5M
A partnership between Parkway Properties and KKR paid $248.5 million for the Sabadell Financial Center on Miami’s Brickell Avenue in June.
The seller was PGIM Real Estate, which bought the property in 2013 for $184.3 million, property records show.
The 30-story office tower at 1111 Brickell Avenue, which spans about 520,000 square feet, sold for $478 per square foot. Parkway and KKR financed the deal with a mortgage from Square Mile Capital Management.
CBRE’s Christian Lee, José Lobón, Amy Julian and Andrew Chilgren worked on the deal.
AVR Realty buys Telemundo’s HQ for $239M
Telemundo’s new headquarters sold earlier this month for $239.1 million to AVR Realty, an investment and development firm based in Yonkers, New York.
The seller of the two-building campus at 1 Telemundo Way was controlled by SunTrust Bank’s SunTrust Equity Funding.
The 476,000-square-foot headquarters for the Spanish language network, which is owned by Comcast’s NBCUniversal, is within the Beacon Lakes industrial park in northwest Miami-Dade County. AVR took over a nearly $185 million loan from Wells Fargo.
The headquarters, which opened in April, houses executive offices, the Telemundo Network’s news, sports and entertainment divisions, Telemundo Global Studios, Telemundo International, Universo, Digital Media operations and NBCUniversal International Latin American.
Boca Raton Innovation Campus trades for $179M
Crocker Partners and Rialto Capital Management paid $179.3 million for the Boca Raton Innovation Campus in April.
The joint venture purchased IBM’s former tech office complex at 4800-5002 T-Rex Avenue from Farallon Capital Management and Next Tier HD, according to Real Capital Analytics. Eastdil Secured brokered the deal.
The 1.68-million-square-foot office park sits on 123 acres in Boca Raton near I-95. It was developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s by IBM as its North American Research and Development facility. IBM closed it in 1996. Tenants now include Bluegreen Corp., Tyco Integrated Security, TransUnion, and Modernizing Medicine, according to RCA.
Portions of the office campus could be redeveloped. Farallon and Next Tier were working with the city of Boca Raton last year to rezone parts of the property to allow for 720 apartments, 20 townhomes, a 120-room hotel and 81,000 square feet of retail space, according to published reports.
Crocker Partners sells SunTrust International Center in downtown Miami
SunTrust International Center in downtown Miami sold to PCCP in May for $127 million.
Crocker Partners sold the 31-story office building at 1 Southeast Third Avenue about three years after renovating the tower. The 440,000-square-foot office building had nearly 170,000 square feet of vacant space when it sold. A 33,500-square-foot retail portion is fully leased, and includes a 13,000-square-foot Walgreens.
PCCP financed the deal with a $101.8 million loan from Invesco. CBRE’s Amy Julian helped arrange the financing, while Christian Lee, Andrew Chilgren and José Lobón represented the seller in the deal.
The tower’s recent $13.5 million renovation includes upgrades to its grand lobby and multi-tenant floors. Renovations also include new elevators and revamped outdoor terraces. Tenants include SunTrust, Adstream America, Cogent Communications, Q-nomy and the Italian Trade Commission.
Records show Crocker Partners paid $82.4 million for the property in 2011.
New York Life Investors pays $117M for Brickell City Tower
New York Life Investors paid $117.25 million for the Brickell City Tower at the end of September.
A joint venture between Banyan Street Capital, Independencia Asset Management and Crocker Partners sold the 33-story, 291,554-square-foot office tower at 80 Southwest Eighth Street to Madison OFC Brickell FL LLC, an affiliate of NYL. The buyer manages fixed income and real estate assets, and is owned by its parent company, New York Life, according to its website.
CBRE’s Christian Lee, José Lobón, Amy Julian and Marcos Minaya worked on the deal.
The sellers completed a $6.4 million renovation of the building that included a new lobby, updates to the common areas, elevator upgrades and a new conference center and tenant lounge. It was built in 1985 and was 87 percent leased at the time of the sale to tenants, including the candy maker Mars Inc. and Uber.
The top 5 South Florida office sales in 2018
| NAME | 508 West 24th Street | PRICE RANGE | From $10,500,000 to $12,500,000 |
| ADDRESS | 508 West 24th Street | SIZE RANGE | From 3,018 Sq Ft to 3,318 Sq Ft |
| TYPE | New Building | AVG PPSF | $3,641 |
| TOTAL UNITS | 15 | TAX ABATEMENT | No |
| DEVELOPER | Tamarkin Co. | AVG COMMON CHARGE | $1.47/sf |
| BROKER | Stribling Marketing Associates | FINISHED BY | Winter/Spring 2014 |