Downtown Fort Lauderdale Office Tower Trades For $32.5 Million

CBRE arranged the sale of Comerica Tower, also known as Plaza 100, a Class A, 166,098-square-foot boutique office tower located at 100 NE 3rd Avenue in Fort Lauderdale.

Brookwood Financial Partners of Beverly, Massachusetts, acquired the 11-story downtown tower from Beacon Investment Properties of Hallandale Beach for $32,500,000, or $196 per square foot.

In August 2013, Brookwood purchased Plantation office building Lakeside Office Center, located at 600 N. Pine Island Road.

Comerica Tower, which features an above-market parking ratio of 3.5 per 1,000 square foot, was 82% leased at the time of the sale.  The property has benefited tremendously from robust leasing activity in downtown Fort Lauderdale over the last two years.

“Downtown Fort Lauderdale absorption has been led by a migration of tenants from the suburbs to the CBD. This has been a national trend, where possible, as employers find it easier to attract and retain higher level talent to urban locations,” explained CBRE Vice Chairman Christian Lee.

Mr. Lee noted that Beacon Investment Properties owned Comerica Tower for two years, increased occupancy from 69% to 82% during its ownership and sold it when it realized the company’s investment objectives for the property. “While Beacon is widely known for its disciplined and expedited acquisition strategies, it was just as responsive as a seller,” Mr. Lee said.

Ariel Bentata, co-founder and managing partner of Beacon, commended Brookwood Financial “for being an astute investor. The buyer performed as anticipated on all aspects of the acquisition and we feel confident this exceptional office tower and its tenants will be in very good hands.”

Comerica Tower is centrally located in downtown Fort Lauderdale’s walkable “live, work, recreate and educate” vibrant cosmopolitan core, within walking distance of numerous shops, restaurants and over 3,500 multi-family units that are either under construction or planned.

“Of this multi-family activity, 1,850 units are north of Broward Boulevard in close proximity to the property,” added José Lobón, CBRE Senior Associate. “This area is now a young and hip enclave, home to neighborhoods such as Progresso Village, Flagler Village and F.A.T. (Flagler Art & Technology) Village, and amenities such as the new Fresh Market supermarket, and numerous art galleries and cafes.”

The Miami-based CBRE team representing the seller included Christian Lee and José Lobón with CBRE’s Capital Markets Institutional Group; and Charles Foschini and Chris Apone with CBRE’s Debt & Structured Finance Group.

Assisting the CBRE Team was the CBRE Office Leasing team of Deanna Lobinsky and Travis Herring, and JLL office leasing broker Jonathan Kingsley.