GlobeSt.com EXCLUSIVE: Realty America Scores Class A Buy for HQ

DALLAS-Realty America Group, taking a transaction full circle, has invested more than $100 per sf into its first local acquisition, gaining a 60,512-sf, class A office building in Uptown with enough space for the corporate headquarters.

The behind-the-scenes trade had Realty America Group brokering the sale between Presidio Investments Ltd. of Dallas and Realty America Investment Management, a wholly owned subsidiary, and arranging the debt through Stamford, CT-based GE Capital’s local office. With the deal done, the plans are flying for a headquarters relocation into 4809 Cole Ave., which will be tagged with the Realty America Group name in time for an October move-in.

Realty America Group is a 19-month-old firm founded by industry veterans, Webb Sowden and Jeffrey C. Berry, with Rives E. Castleman as managing partner for Realty America Investment Management. Their first acquisition was in March–the one-million-sf Lincoln Mall in Chicago. Sowden tells GlobeSt.com that they should corner one or two more deeds before the year ends as part of their “principal transactions” component for a three-pronged business model that also includes investment sales and mortgage banking. “We’re looking,” he says, “so bring us deals.”