Dallas Whitaker, a former executive with Birmingham, AL-based Colonial Properties Trust, established Foundation Realty late last year with two other ex-Colonial colleagues in Atlanta, Tom Hallowell and Rick Lessley. The new firm seeks well-located, quality assets with attractive yields priced below replacement cost on behalf of high-net-worth private investors.
"We feel like we have a small stable of equity sources," Whitaker, the firm's principal, tells GlobeSt.com. He adds that Hampton Oaks, a stabilized class A property with six buildings currently 95% leased, provides a level of comfort to buyers looking out for those rare properties on the current market that are not in distress or going through bank workouts.
Hampton Oaks, a collection of single-story red brick buildings near Interstate 4 and US 301 on Tampa's east side, is popular with communications firms because of its connectivity to the city's main fiber loop. The park was developed between 1987 and 1999.
"We just found the right deal at the right time with the right structure," Whitaker says. The all-cash purchase was structured through a partnership with an Alabama-based private investor who did not want to be identified, he says.
Whitaker, who was once a leasing representative at Hampton Oaks early in his real estate career, says his firm discovered that the property was available for sale by way of Cushman & Wakefield. Foundation Realty was able to get the property under contract shortly after the start of the year, then secure funding and go to closing within 75 days, he says.
"The sale of Hampton Oaks is indicative of the significant number of new non-traditional buyers entering the market," says Mike Davis, executive director of Cushman & Wakefield's Southeast Capital Markets Group in Tampa. Davis and Rick Brugge, associate director, negotiated the sale on behalf of RREEF.
Whitaker says the REIT experience that he and his partners garnered during their time with Colonial will serve Foundation Realty well as it scouts additional investments. Another benefit, he says, is not being saddled with problem properties early on: "We're working with a clean slate."
Foundation Realty offers a full-service platform with expertise in acquiring, developing, repositioning, managing, leasing and selling office and industrial real estate. It will lease and manage Hampton Oaks through its in-house management services division, FRA Realty Services.
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