One of the largest privately held real estate advisers in the U.S. has acquired two prime office properties along Broward Boulevard in the heart of Fort Lauderdale’s business district.

Realty Associates Fund X LP, a real estate investment trust, paid $66.4 million for the downtown office towers at 203 SE First St. and 200 E. Broward Blvd., according to a deed recorded Friday. The building is home to multiple law firms, including Shutts & Bowen and Weiss Serota Helfman Pastoriza Cole & Boniske.

The buyer is linked to Boston-based TA Associates Realty LLC, which manages 91 million square feet of commercial real estate and 12,300 residential units in 35 markets nationwide. This deal gives it control of more than 540,000 square feet of prime office space.

One of the biggest tenants, Greenspoon Marder, moved nearly 100 lawyers into the building from the Cypress Creek area. In November, Greenspoon leased 64,964 square feet, expanding from one to four full floors and giving a strong boost to office absorption along the Broward Boulevard corridor.

The sale represented a gain for the seller, VV USA City LP, a German closed-end investment fund, which paid just under $44 million for the towers in separate transactions in 1998 and 1999, yielding a 51 percent return on the deal.

TA Associates Realty has selected Miami-based management, brokerage and advisory firm Pointe Group Advisors as the property manager for the building.

“Given our proven track record of performance and success in servicing assets in Broward’s suburban markets, our team is very excited about the opportunity to bring our award-winning property management platform into Fort Lauderdale’s central business district with the assignment at 200 Broward,” said Alfie Hamilton, Vice President of Pointe Group Advisors. “We look forward to executing the new ownership’s vision for the numerous capital improvement projects that will be undertaken to modernize the building so that it can compete with the newer product on Las Olas. Our team is committed to creating a tenant-friendly environment with our high-tech, high-touch approach of management, as well as assisting the leasing team all in an effort to maximize the value of 200 Broward.”

Source: DBR