New York Life pays $72M for Palm Beach Gardens office tower

New York Life Insurance Co. bought The Financial Center at the Gardens for $71.8 million, in one of the Palm Beach County’s largest office sales of the year.

The real estate arm of New York Life Insurance purchased the 195,787-square-foot-office building at 3801 PGA Boulevard in Palm Beach Gardens for $366 per square foot, according to a press release. Newport Beach, California-based KBS, one of the nation’s largest owners of office space, sold the property.

Boca Raton-based Crocker Partners will be the operating partner of the 10-story Financial Center.

Mike Davis, Dominic Montazemi, Rick Brugge and Scott O’Donnell of Cushman & Wakefield represented KBS in the transaction.

KBS bought the property in 2015 for $63.1 million, records show. The property was built in 1997.

KBS spent more than $1 million to renovate the property, including a main lobby renovation with a new lounge and wine bar as well as upgrades to the café, restrooms, corridors and elevators, according to the release. The building is nearly 100 percent leased, with tenants including Morgan Stanley, UBS, Bankrate, and JP Morgan Chase.

KBS is one of the country’s largest buyers of commercial real estate and has completed deals worth over $38 billion, according to its website.

Palm Beach Gardens is seeing more interest from developers. Late last year, Brookfield Asset Management paid nearly $218 million for the PGA National Resort & Spa in Palm Beach Gardens, marking the largest hotel sale in South Florida of the year.