Iconic Downtown Office Tower Changes Hands
A Transwestern official tells Globest.com that the bidding for the property was intense with more than 300 confidentiality agreements from both domestic and international investors.
JACKSONVILLE, FL—The iconic, but troubled BB&T Tower here has changed hands via auction in a deal valued at more than $24 million.
The building was sold by a special servicer via auction for $24.47 million to Talara Investment Group LLC, an affiliate of Jacksonville-based commercial real estate development firm Ash Properties.
The 18-story, 285,497-square-foot tower was sold on the Ten-X auction platform. Commercial brokerage firm Transwestern announced the sales deal. Transwestern managing director John Bell marketed and led the sale of the office building on behalf of the seller, special servicer LNR Partners and John Mitchell, its asset manager.
A Transwestern official tells Globest.com that the bidding for the property was intense with more than 300 confidentiality agreements from both domestic and international investors, thus making the BB&T Tower the most sought-after office investment in Jacksonville this year.
Randall Whitfield, COO of Ash Properties, tells Globest.com that the firm feels the property provides a great opportunity. “We are excited about being a part of the downtown revitalization and we think this acquisition will go a long way to assisting us in participating in downtown. It has a great upside potential,” he says,
Whitfield adds that Ash Properties is currently in the planning stages to implement some capital improvements at the office tower.
Near City Hall and the federal and county Courthouses, the BB&T-anchored asset encompasses a full city block connected by a tunnel to a six-story parking garage across the street featuring ground-level retail. This year, the building ownership completed a $3.87-million investment in major capital upgrades at the property, which was originally built in 1975, including an elevator modernization program.
“The BB&T Tower listing was a unique opportunity to acquire a trophy landmark with value-add characteristics in that it is 63% leased with in-place income, positioned to experience an expedited lease-up with new and committed long-term ownership,” Transwestern’s Bell says. “The property offers a prospective anchor tenant signage at the top of one of downtown’s most prominent locations, a rare point of differentiation.”
Major tenants at the tower building include BB&T, the Jacksonville Business Journal, HDR Engineering, Marshall Dennehey, and Patriot Transportation.
The Jacksonville Daily Record reported earlier this year that the BB&T was acquired by a group of lenders in 2016 after failing to secure any bids at a prior foreclosure auction. The newspaper report further stated that U.S. Bank, as trustee for the lenders, filed a foreclosure suit on the property in Duval County Circuit Court in 2014. The group owning the building at the time owed $32.4 million on the mortgage. Norfolk, VA.-based Harbor Group International bought the building for $30.05 million in 2007.