Tag Archive for: brookwood financial partners

Pharmaceutical Firm Relocates, Inks 56,000 SF Lease Deal

/in , /by

NAI/Merin Hunter Codman, Inc. announced that it completed one of the largest office lease transactions in Palm Beach County this year with TherapeuticsMD, Inc., which signed a 56,212-square-foot lease at 951 Yamato.

Jay M. Grossman, President and Director, and Richard W. Brockney of NAI/Merin Hunter Codman represented the Landlord, 951 Yamato Acquisition Company LLC, an affiliate of Brookwood Financial Partners, LLC.

Molly McDonough, Senior Vice-President of Butters Realty & Management, represented the tenant in the transaction.

The long-time Boca Raton-based pharmaceutical firm received three FDA product approvals since May and has outgrown its 32,000-square-foot location at 6800 Broken Sound Parkway NW, also in Boca Raton.

When asked why TherapeuticsMD chose 951 Yamato, Josie Weitzel, Director of Corporate Operations, stated “After two long years of researching facility options in the Palm Beach County area, we finally found a space that will offer an open space floor plan, which will allow for a more cohesive and collaborative environment to meet the needs our current and future staff.”

Grossman added, “951 Yamato was well suited for the tenant’s need with its large floor plates. In addition, the ability to find large blocks of office space to accommodate headquarter-sized tenants in Boca Raton is diminishing. The few that can be found are priced at the top of the market, located in less convenient areas, and many lack modern, Class-A features and amenities. 951 Yamato recently completed a million-dollar, environmentally friendly property improvement program to ensure that it remained a first-choice for large office space users. With the signing of the TherapeuticsMD lease and other recent leases, the building is now 89% leased.”

Current plans are to build-out two additional spec suites to be delivered in the first quarter of 2019, and a 2,000-square-foot conference center for the use of all 951 Yamato tenants.

Downtown Fort Lauderdale Office Sale Closes At $220 Million

/in , /by

The South Florida office market keeps reeling in investors ready to drop large sums on the region’s trophy assets.

In one of the biggest commercial real estate deals this year, a downtown Fort Lauderdale office tower changed hands for $220 million.

A company linked to Deutsche Bank‘s asset and wealth management division pocketed the Bank of America Plaza at Las Olas City Centre, a 23-story office tower built in 2002, from J.P. Morgan Investment Management Inc., according to Broward County property records.

The pricey deal closed Monday, five years after New York-based J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. originally purchased the asset. The seller walked away with a $56 million gain, or 34 percent

The 725,898-square-foot Class A office building at 401 E. Las Olas Blvd. sits on 2½ acres with about 408,000 square feet of leasable office space. It is anchored by Bank of America, and other tenants include Greenberg Traurig; Boies, Schiller & Flexner; GrayRobinson; Patriot National Inc.; and Farlie Turner & Co.

The deal broke down to $303 per square foot.

Fort Lauderdale’s office market has attracted new players this year looking for valuable assets away from Miami’s congested urban core.

Miami-based Steelbridge Capital purchased the two-building Class A SunTrust Center office complex a block away at 501-505 Las Olas Blvd. for $87 million in June. That deal, at $320 per square foot, was the largest transaction since June 2015.

In August, Massachusetts-based Brookwood Financial Partners sold an 11-story office building in downtown Fort Lauderdale for $46.5 million — $14 million more than what it paid two years ago.

Broward County’s investment sales activity picked up last quarter with eight transactions totaling $134 million, according to CBRE Inc. Overall, commercial transactions totaled $345 million during the first half of the year.

The submarket’s vacancy rates dropped to 12 percent in the second quarter as new entrants vie for space and existing companies expand their footprints.

 

Source:  DBR

Downtown Fort Lauderdale Office Tower Trades For $282 PSF

/in /by

After only two years carrying the property, Brookwood Financial Partners has sold Fort Lauderdale’s Plaza 100 office building for $46.5 — $14 million more than what the company originally paid.

Brookwood, which is headquartered in Massachusetts, just sold its 330,747-square-foot property to an affiliate of Zurich Asset Management, an alternative investment division of the international Zurich Insurance Group, records show.

The 11-story building is located at 100 Northeast Third Avenue in downtown Fort Lauderdale. Its square footage is split by offices with 165,000 square feet of leasable space and a garage with roughly 580 parking spaces.

According to data from the CoStar Group, it is 92.5 percent leased, with asking rents averaging $23.5 per square foot, triple net. Notable tenants include Comerica Bank, which has its signage displayed prominently on the building, and financial consulting firm RSM McGladrey.

Brookwood came onto the scene in 2014 when it paid $32.5 million to buy Plaza 100 from an affiliate of Accesso Partners, according to county records. Accesso had paid $20.8 million four years earlier.

The Massachusetts private equity company’s purchase price had broken down to nearly $197 per square foot. Now, the company has raked in just under $282 per foot.

CBRE’s Christian Lee, Jose Lobon, Amy Julian and Marcos Minaya marketed the property on behalf of Brookwood.

According to its website, Brookwood has built a portfolio worth $2.2 billion since launching in 1993. Office properties in central business districts like Plaza 100 make up a relatively small chunk of Brookwood’s real estate purchases, equating to about 8 percent of its portfolio.

The Plaza 100 sale also came sooner than Brookwood’s typical holding period, which lasts three to five years under its current strategy.

 

Source:  The Real Deal

Downtown Fort Lauderdale Office Tower Trades For $32.5 Million

/in , /by

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.