Pebb JV buys Boca Raton office complex for $30M

Pebb Enterprises tripled its office holdings in a Boca Raton business park with a $29.8 million joint venture acquisition.

The Boca Raton-based private equity real estate firm, led by CEO Ian Weiner, and Greenwich, Connecticut-based Contrarian Capital Management acquired Meridian Office Center at 6551 and 6601 Park of Commerce Boulevard, according to a press release.

The seller, an affiliate of Montvale, New Jersey-based Ivy Realty, paid $26.9 million in 2015 for the two buildings totaling roughly 202,000 square feet that were completed in 1998, records show.

A CBRE team led by Christian Lee and Jose Antonio Lobon represented the seller. Professional Bank provided the buyer with financing, the release states. The amount was not disclosed.

Meridian Office Center is in The Park at Broken Sound, a 700-acre mixed-use business park in Boca Raton. Cross Country Healthcare and Lexis Nexis occupy the two buildings, the release states.

Pebb Enterprises is bullish on Boca Raton, especially The Park at Broken Sound. Last year, the firm bought a three-story office building at 5900 Northwest Broken Sound Parkway for $14.5 million. In 2018, Pebb Enterprises and its partner, an affiliate of Chicago-based RAIT Financial Trust, paid $42 million for ADT’s 10-acre global headquarters, also in The Park at Broken Sound.

The Meridian Office Center deal also marks Pebb Enterprises’ second office transaction in its own backyard in a three-month span. In May, the firm and partner Banyan Development paid $37.5 million for Florida Atlantic University’s tech and innovation-focused Research Park, a seven-building portfolio in Boca Raton.

Last year, Pebb Enterprises bought the 1801 office building in Boca Raton for $18.4 million.

Led by CEO Jon Bauer, Contrarian Capital is an institutional investment manager formed in 1995 that focuses on mid-sized “value-add and opportunistic” investments in the $10 million to $25 million range, according to the firm’s website.