Tricony Pays $29M for Trade Centre South

FORT LAUDERDALE-The 215,049-sf, class A Trade Centre South office building in this South Florida suburb has been sold for nearly $29.2 million. Tricony, a private investment group based in Palm Beach, FL, paid an affiliate of GE Asset Management about $135.78 per sf for the 10-story property. The building is located in the Cypress Creek submarket.Tenants at Trade Centre South include New York Life, AT&T, AMN Healthcare and the Sports Authority. The property, visible from Interstate 95, is located near Florida’s Turnpike, a Tri-Rail commuter stop and the Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport.Dan Carlo, Hermen Rodríguez and Ike Ojala of the investment sales group in the Miami office of Holliday Fenoglio Fowler LP closed the sale for the affiliate of GE Asset Management. Bob Bradley of the debt group in the company’s Miami office represented Tricony in arranging the acquisition financing for Trade Centre South. Bradley secured a fixed-rate loan through Principal Global Investors.Tricony also owns other office properties in the Southeast and New York. Carlo says the firm plans to expand even further in South Florida, where demand seems strong for office properties. “Tricony’s acquisition of the Trade Centre South building is demonstrative of its desire to expand its South Florida holdings with premier properties that compete atop their respective markets,” according to Carlo.Bradley adds the South Florida market is attractive to Tricony due in large part to expected population growth. “I heard that 10 million people are expected to move into Florida over the next 10 years, primarily due to the baby boomers retiring,” he says. “The southern half of the state is probably going to get more than half of that concentration. So you have a very strong market.” The area is strengthened by South Florida’s tight boundaries, he says. “Supply-demand works very cleanly when you have … a limited amount of land.”"The very deep field of other competing bidders that Tricony had to surpass in this acquisition is indicative of the extensive demand for South Florida office product,” Carlo explains. “The commercial real estate investment community was able to look beyond the recent temporary deceleration in space absorption in the market while underwriting the Trade Centre transaction.”