Fountain Square II, Tampa, FL

TAMPA—A joint venture of Orlando-based Owens Realty Capital and Galium Capital of Miami has acquired the Fountain Square II office building here for $29.4 million.

The 133,887-square-foot office building in Tampa’s Westshore office submarket was sold by Equus Capital Partners, Ltd. of Newtown Square, PA.

The partnership also secured $20.4 million in acquisition financing through a seven-year, fixed-rate loan from TD Bank. JLL represented the seller, procured the buyer and working on behalf of the partnership, arranged the acquisition financing. The JLL Capital Markets team representing the seller was led by senior director Ike Ojala and senior managing director Hermen Rodriguez.

Fountain Square II is located at 4925 Independence Parkway adjacent to Veteran’s Expressway in the amenity rich Westshore Office submarket of Tampa. The property is proximate to Tampa’s northwestern residential cities, including Town N’ Country, Citrus Park, Carrolwood and Northdale, and is within 15 to 30 minutes of both Tampa and St. Petersburg’s central business districts and only five minutes from Tampa International Airport.

“Fountain Square II attracted broad investor interest thanks to its sought-after Westshore location, high-quality tenancy and complete onsite amenity package that includes structured parking, café and fitness center,” JLL’s Ojala says.

Tenants at the 93.1%-leased building include CarePlus, ConnectWise and the U.S government.

Originally developed in 1989 by JP Morgan Chase, which was an occupant until 2006, the property is located within Fountain Square Office Park.

The building sits on 1.94 acres and has a parking ratio of 3.9/1,000 square-feet. The building offers large 35,000 square-foot floor plates, floor-to-ceiling windows and on-site amenities including a full-service cafeteria, and fitness center. Between 2015 and 2017, the property underwent approximately $1.9 million in capital improvements, which included elevator modernization, upgrades to the café including new furniture, restroom upgrades, chiller replacements, and significant repairs to the parking deck.

Fountain Square II is situated just north of the Veterans Expressway and West Courtney Campbell Causeway intersection, within the highly desirable Westshore submarket. The property is strategically located with the Tampa International Airport being less than one mile away, while the downtown of Tampa and St. Petersburg are eight and 20 miles away, respectively. The location also provides access to the rest of Westshore and the greater Tampa area via the Veterans Expressway, which connects to I-275 then I-4 and I-75.

“Fountain Square II was a case of executing on the original game plan which was to make upgrades to the building and renew the full floor tenants that were rolling during our hold period at increased rates,” says Peter Shatz, VP and asset manager, who, along with Christopher Locatell, SVP and director of dispositions for Equus oversaw the transaction for the firm.

Equus Capital Partners also announced on Thursday that an affiliate acquired a four-building office portfolio totaling 299,614 square-feet in Aurora and Denver, CO. The acquisition was made on behalf of Equus Investment Partnership XI, L.P., a fully discretionary value-add equity fund managed by Equus. The portfolio was 82% leased at the time of acquisition.

Mark Katz, Peter Merrion and Larry Thiel of HFF, L.P., now a Jones Lang LaSalle company, represented the seller in the transaction.

No financial details of that transaction were disclosed.