Tag Archive for: crocker partners

One Financial Plaza Fetches $87 Million

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Crocker Partners sold a 28-story office tower in downtown Fort Lauderdale to an affiliate of Walton Street Capital for $86.75 million.

Records show Crocker affiliate One Financial Plaza LLC sold the building at 100 Southeast Third Avenue to W-Crocker Fin Place Owner VIII LLC, which is controlled by Doug Welker, principal of asset management at Walton Street Capital, a private equity firm based in Chicago. The buyer financed the deal with a $61.23 million loan from SunTrust.

The deal marks the first large sale of an office building in Fort Lauderdale this year. It breaks down to about $314 per square foot.

The 276,572-square-foot Class A office building was built in 1972, and was originally known as the Landmark Bank Tower. When it opened, it was the tallest building in Fort Lauderdale, and is now the sixth-tallest, according to Emporis. One Financial Plaza was renovated in 2011, data from Real Capital Analytics shows. Crocker Partners paid $44 million for the 4-acre property in 2011.

Tenants include the Tower Club restaurant on the penthouse level, anchor tenant Regions Bank, Pipeline Workspaces, AXA Advisors and Fowler White Burnett. Pipeline signed a 20-year lease for a full floor at the building and opened in October. One Financial Plaza includes an attached parking garage, a renovated lobby, new gym and conference space and a redesigned entrance, according to a Loopnet listing.

The office tower is about two blocks away from Las Olas Boulevard, which is going through a commercial and residential resurgence. In September, a JP Morgan investment manager sold the Las Olas City Centre office tower to Deutsche Bank for $220 million, marking one of the biggest office deals in South Florida in 2016.

And the sale of One Financial Plaza is the second big office building that Crocker has traded in recent months. The Boca Raton-based investment and management firm, along with Cornerstone Real Estate Advisers, sold the Esperanté Corporate Center in West Palm Beach to RedSky Capital for $126 million in July.

One Financial Plaza’s new owner, Walton Street Capital, has handled more than $8.4 billion of investments from public and corporate pension plans, foreign institutions, insurance companies and banks, endowments and foundations, trusts, and high net-worth individuals, according to its website. Affiliates of Walton Street Capital have invested more than $7.5 billion of equity into the private equity real estate investment firm.

 

Source:  The Real Deal

Crocker Partners Names Managing Partner

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Crocker Partners LLC announced that Angelo Bianco has assumed the role of Managing Partner for the real estate investment and development firm. Bianco, a partner and senior executive with Crocker organizations since 2001, takes the helm of a company with a $2 billion portfolio of 8.6 million sq. ft. of Class A office and mixed-use properties in the southeast U.S.

Founding Partner Tom Crocker said, “Angelo has played a lead role in Crocker Partners’ growth and success, building a solid foundation for the future. Along with real estate expertise, he brings the vision and creativity to make the most of our opportunities.”

He noted that in addition to being a significant office landlord in markets including Miami,Ft. Lauderdale, Boca Raton, Orlando, and Jacksonville, FL, and Atlanta, the company has several active development projects. While Bianco guides day-to- day operations, Crocker will continue to be active in the company’s strategic direction and investment decisions.

“Over the past 30 years, Tom created one of the foremost commercial real estate companies in the southeastern U.S.,” said Bianco. “I’ll be building on that legacy, and am thankful Tom will continue in his strategic planning and advisory roles, which have been critical to our success.”

Most recently, Bianco managed Crocker Partners’ capital markets activities and investor relations, and directed operations in Florida and Texas, including acquisition and development opportunities, asset management, property management and leasing functions. He joined the Crocker organization in 2001 as Senior Vice President at CRT Properties, Inc., responsible for acquisition of properties totaling 2.1 million sq. ft. and for managing the company’s Florida assets, comprised of ten office centers with 77 buildings.

Previously, Bianco was counsel for Tishman Speyer Properties concentrating on the redevelopment of Rockefeller Center in New York City. He began his career as a real estate attorney with Bachner, Tally, Polevoy & Mishner and subsequently became a partner at Anderson Kill & Olick, P.C., a New York-based law firm where he specialized in real estate. Bianco was admitted to the State Bar of New York in 1994.

He holds a Juris Doctor from the University of Virginia School of Law and a Bachelor of Business Administration from the George Washington University.

An Afternoon in Crocker Raton

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The South Florida Office Brokers Association meeting for June 2015 was held at One Town Center, the former Tyco building located within the complex now known as Boca Center. Our guest speaker Angelo Bianco of Crocker Partners told us that most locals still know Boca Center by its former name.

The iconic mixed-use complex located along Military Trail south of Glades Road in Central Boca Raton contains office space, a Marriott hotel, and upscale shops and restaurants. It has been used as a case study by the Urban Land Institute for excellence in a mixed-use project. The property was originally developed by Crocker and Company back in the mid-1980s and is still widely known by its original name, Crocker Center.

Over the years, the buildings were sold to Teachers Insurance and Annuity and Met Life. But over the last 12 months, Crocker Partners has invested more than $340 million in Boca Raton, reacquiring the shops and towers at Boca Center, The Plaza and One Town Center. Just north of Boca Center, Crocker also acquired the 277,000 sf One Boca Place, the longest and largest office building in the market. So even if Boca Center is not renamed back to Crocker Center, the running joke is that maybe the city should be renamed Crocker Raton.

What is not a joke is that Crocker Partners now controls 94% of the vacant Class-A space in the Boca Raton office market. According to Mike Erickson of CBRE, who leases the Boca Center properties for Crocker, “office rental rates north of $30 per sf triple net (which is over $40 including operating expenses) are the new normal in Boca Raton. Vacancies are down and construction is flat so we are going to continue to push rental rates.”

In order to justify the higher rental rates,  Crocker Partners will be upgrading the properties to compete in today’s market. One Town Center will be positioned to continue to appeal to private equity firms. The Plaza, the black office tower anchored by Wells Fargo, will be modernized and positioned as an ultra high-end concierge building targeted toward upscale local tenants. It will be priced at a monthly dollar amount rather than per square foot.”A contemporary building with timeless appeal” said Bianco. All of the buildings will also offer valet parking.

The biggest changes will involve the retail space,which will be re-oriented for street visibility. “Don’t turn your back on the street” said Bianco. The restaurant space at Boca Center will surround an open courtyard to create more of a synergy, and a gym and a spa will be added to the hotel’s lower 2 floors.

Plans also include the addition of multifamily units to the project to capitalize on the current urbanization trend. The idea according to Bianco, is to combine the upscale shopping experience of Miami’s Bal Harbor shops or Palm Beach’s Worth Avenue with the trendy local appeal of Delray Beach’s Atlantic Avenue.

Will Crocker be able to raise the bar on rental rates in Central Boca? Can they repeat their earlier success with an updated Boca Center? And will the City Council consider renaming the city Crocker Raton? We’d like your opinion.

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Crocker Picks Up 339,000 SF In Boca

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Crocker Partners has acquired two high-profile office towers in Boca Raton from MetLife Real Estate Investors, adding 339,000 square feet of Class A space to its growing South Florida portfolio.

Crocker paid $81 million for the Boca office complexes.

The two buildings, both originally developed by Crocker entities, are One Town Center and The Plaza, located just south of Glades Road.

The two buildings are currently 42 percent leased and major tenants include Wells Fargo and Kayne Anderson Real Estate Advisors.  This latest acquisition, in partnership with Siguler Guff, brings Crocker Partners’ holdings in Boca Raton to more than 616,000 square feet. Earlier this year, Crocker Partners acquired the 277,390-square-foot One Boca Place office center, and the company expects to finalize another major acquisition by year-end that will bring its Boca Raton portfolio to more than one million square feet.

“Buying Class A vacancy in one of South Florida’s most desirable office markets is central to our investment strategy,” said Thomas J. Crocker, Founder and Managing Partner. “Our basis in these assets is a fraction of the cost it would take to replace them and we have significant upside potential as both buildings come with extensive development opportunities.”

Crocker Partners will manage the properties and has engaged CBRE for leasing, according to Angelo J. Bianco, Partner. He said Crocker Partners sees upside potential from development of surplus land surrounding the projects. The company, Bianco noted, has deep roots in the Boca Raton market, where it is headquartered and has developed many of the city’s most prominent buildings.  In addition to The Plaza, built as Boca Raton’s first Class A office tower, and One Town Center, home to W.R. Grace and later Tyco, Crocker introduced the City’s two major mixed-use centers, Downtown Boca Raton’s Mizner Park, and suburban Boca Center.

Overall, Crocker Partners’ portfolio now includes more than 8.0 million square feet of office real estate in the Southeast U.S. and Texas, representing more than $1.5 billion invested.