Compson Center Sells for $20M

(This story, in slightly different form, originally appeared in Incisive Media’s Daily Business Review.)

BOCA RATON, FL-In a sign of the economic times, a Boca Raton office building has been sold for $20 million, or $213 per square foot, after the buyer assumed the mortgage. The 94,000-square-foot Compson Financial Center changed hands when buyer 980 North Federal Acquisition Group took over an $18.7-million note from Bank of America at 5.28% interest, a low rate compared to what’s currently offered.

Seller 980 North Federal LLC, whose principal is Stuart Gilbert of New York, paid $26.5 million for the property in 2006. In addition to access to financing, the buyer got an added benefit: The loan is interest-only for its first three years. Amortization didn’t begin until the fourth year of the loan, shortly before the new owners acquired the four-story building at 980 N. Federal Highway.