Tag Archive for: bristol group

Broward Office Building Sells To Local Family

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The largest office building in Northwest Broward County has a new owner.

EH University Place LLC, an entity controlled by Essig Holdings, has completed its purchase of University Place at 3111 N University Drive in Coral Springs. They are acquiring the building from a partnership led by Bristol Group, a leading real estate investment and development group based in San Francisco.

CBRE represented Bristol and its partner, Butters Construction & Development, in the sale for $3o million.

At 10 stories, the landmark 263,000-square-foot, Class A building visually dominates the city’s central commercial district, which spans along University Drive just south of Sample Road in close proximity to City Hall, Northwest Regional Library, Coral Springs Charter School, and the Broward Health Coral Springs hospital campus.

The Colliers South Florida office leasing team of Darcie Lunsford and Caroline Fleischer has been chosen to handle leasing and marketing of the asset.

The purchase will usher in a new wave of luxury office space and leasing opportunities for the suburban, residentially-dense communities of Northwest Broward.

“University Place is already the highest-quality and best-amenitized office building in the market,“ said Lunsford, who has been involved with the leasing of the building for a decade. “This new ownership will make it even better by reinvesting to deliver a level of well-appointed office interiors, typically reserved for uber-pricey downtown trophy towers.”  

Plans are already underway to build out ready-to-go, high-end office suites, aimed at serving businesses seeking the latest, most forward-thinking design elements to enhance the work experience.

“Bristol Group did a beautiful job in renovating the building. We look forward to enhancing it further in this thriving Coral Springs community,” said Dan Essig, President of Essig Holdings.

The Essig family has a long-standing real estate presence across the country in single/multi-family residential, industrial warehousing, self-storage, and other commercial properties, but is best known locally for founding Essig Pools and Artistic Paver Manufacturing. Essig Holdings is a father-son team with a focus on acquiring and improving commercial real estate assets across South Florida.

“We love Coral Springs,” Sam Essig, Vice President of Essig Holdings said, “We believe our plans will elevate University Place to the next level, setting a new standard for office space in the market.”

University Place is home to many of the region’s leading companies, including Cruise Planners, the nation’s lagest homebase travel agent franchise network, and popular restaurants, such as Tap 42 Craft Kitchen & Bar, Playa Bowls, and Embarcadero 41.

 

Butters, Bristol Group Buy Landmark Coral Springs Office Building

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A co-development by veteran South Florida developer Butters Construction & Development and San Francisco-based Bristol Group has acquired one of Northwest Broward County’s largest and most prominent office buildings.

In an all-cash transaction, the partnership purchased the 205,000-square-foot building at 3111 N. University Drive with plans to reposition the 10-story building as Broward County’s premier suburban corporate center.  The tower, which anchors Coral Springs’ main business district on University Drive just south of Sample Road, has been renamed University Place at City Center.

The name change is the first step in Butters’ and Bristol’s multi-prong strategy to reposition the property as a best-in-class office center.  A multi-million dollar renovation and capital improvement project is being rolled out with renovations starting as early as March on upgrades and modernization of the building’s lobby atrium and new main entry.  The newly rebranded University Place at City Center will also undergo full refurbishment of its front retail façade, which has immense street presence spanning nearly a half block along University Drive.   A full upgrade of the building’s passenger elevator system, which includes two all-glass cabs that offer riders dramatic views of the lobby atrium, will be completed in February.

“This building was 90 percent leased five years ago, and was always regarded as one of the best office buildings in west Broward,” said Malcolm Butters, president of Butters. “We are confident that within a few years this building will regain its stature.”

Prior to the Butters and Bristol acquisition, the 10-story building, formerly known as Preferred Exchange Tower, had been controlled by a commercial mortgaged-back securities trust, which foreclosed on its previous ownership in 2012.

A servicer for the CMBS trust put the property on the market late last year with the Butters and Bristol team emerging as the winning party following a competitive bidding process.

“We saw an opportunity to acquire an irreplaceable asset in the Coral Springs market at a very competitive price,” said Rob Banovac, project manager with Bristol. “We knew this would give us a competitive advantage in the marketplace and allow us to quickly turn it around with well-capitalized, institutional ownership and an experienced leasing team.”

Adam Vaisman, director of acquisitions for Butters, worked with Bristol to craft the economic structure of the deal to capture the winning bid.

Darcie Lunsford and Molly McDonough, both senior vice presidents at Butters, will oversee leasing.

University Place at Center Center’s current tenant roster includes Scarborough Research, Community Bank of Broward and IPS Worldwide.

 

Coral Springs Office Building Trades

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A San Francisco investor has acquired the Preferred Exchange Tower in Coral Springs for $12.6 million, a steep discount from the 2005 price paid for the office tower.

BB University Drive, a company tied to San Francisco-based investment and development firm Bristol Group, purchased the nearly 203,000-square-foot tower at 3111 North University Drive, according to Broward County records. The county recorded the transaction today. No financing was recorded.

The seller is 3111 North University Drive Holdings, managed by loan servicing giant CWCapital Asset Management. The CWCapital company took title to the six-acre property after a November 2012 foreclosure auction. A commercial mortgage-backed securities trust managed by U.S. Bank won the auction and turned over the deed to 3111 North three months later.

Bristol’s purchase price is about $21 million less than what a company managed by New York-based Cabot Investment Properties spent to acquire the tower in March 2005. The Cabot company was hit with a $24 million foreclosure action in April 2012.

The tower was originally built in 1985. John Bell of Rockwood Real Estate Advisors marketed the property on behalf of CWCapital.

 

Source:  The Real Deal