HEREDIA, COSTA RICA–El Cafetal Corporate Center, a class A office park here has traded to Mercado Valores, a Costa Rica-based real estate investment fund. At $127 million, the deal represents the largest acquisition in dollar terms to date by a Costa Rican real estate fund.
Developed by Garnier & Garnier, the four-building LEED certified property includes four office buildings and a retail center. Its tenant roster includes Citi, 3M, Cargill and Deloitte.
Tim Gifford, managing director of CBRE Capital Advisors, Latin America, advised on the transaction on behalf of the seller. “This was a great transaction for both the buyer and seller as El Cafetal is one the few premier corporate office parks especially designed for large multinational corporations,” he says.
“In the past years, Costa Rica has been able to make a strong footprint of global foreign direct investment due to attractive market fundamentals coupled with a dollarized commercial real estate market,” continues Gifford. “Costa Rica offers investors a risk-reward return premium not currently encountered in other Latin American markets.”
Gifford adds that “we have seen great interest from global corporations looking to allocate their Central American operations in the region. We recently advised on the sale of the largest commercial property trade in the Central America region, a mixed-use development in Panama, a further testament to the region's growing popularity among investors.”
El Cafetal is strategically situated in Heredia, the country's premier office location and home to its highest concentration of skilled workers and is home to some of the largest national and international corporations. The provincial capital has a vacancy rate of 4.8% and one of the highest average asking rents in the Costa Rican office market, according to CBRE.
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Paul Bubny
Paul Bubny is managing editor of Real Estate Forum and GlobeSt.com. He has been reporting on business since 1988 and on commercial real estate since 2007. He is based at ALM Real Estate Media Group's offices in New York City.
