Bank of America, (NYSE: BAC) with an S&P credit rating of A- did not emerge unscathed from the banking crisis and great recession but the strength of its deposits and dominance in market share along with its highly visible locations in both urban and suburban settings have helped Bank of America hold the interest of net lease investors. Generally, Bank of America sites are 1.00 - 1.5 acres with improvements of 3,500 to 4,800 square feet and are sold as unsubordinated ground leases* to NNN investors.

*In a ground lease, the investor/landlord owns the ground and the tenant constructs the building at costs of arround $1.3mm and retains ownership of the building until lease termination. The tenant leases the ground from the investor/landlord and on the tenant's default or other termination of the lease; the building becomes the property of the investor/landlord. Ground leases are extremely passive investments and generally sell at 50 to 125 basis points below the average cap rate for NNN "fee simple" ownership of ground and structure transactions leased by the same tenant.

The Bank of America ground lease is attractive to investors because they typically have an initial term of 15 to 20 years with up to five, five year renewal options. In addition, the Bank of America ground lease provides rent increases of 10-15% every five years.