Mark Taylor and Dean Zang of Marcus & Millichap's Philadelphia office represented the seller, GVH Duff Associates, while Stanton Falk of its Cincinnati office represented the 1031 exchange buyer, Arden Square LLC. The asset had been on the market since June 2008 and the listing had expired by the time the deal was made. Ooltewah is located along Interstate 75 northeast of Chattanooga.

"Challenging market conditions have reduced the number of 1031 buyers in the marketplace by about 75% from the fourth quarter of 2008 to the first quarter of 2009," Taylor says. "Regrettably, many of the offers received were above a 6.75% capitalization rate from non-1031 buyers."

Right after the expiration, the listing team in Philadelphia received an e-mail from the Cincinnati office specifically seeking branches of Winston-Salem, NC-based BB&T Corp. A letter of intent was executed in a few days, which Taylor credits to Marcus & Millichap's national marketing platform.