Holliday Fenoglio Fowler, L.P. announced today that it has closed the $115.5 million sale of and arranged acquisition financing for a two-building office portfolio comprising First Citizens Bank Plaza in Uptown Charlotte, North Carolina, and Sarasota City Center in Downtown Sarasota, Florida.
HFF marketed the portfolio on behalf of the sellers, Osprey East, LLC and Osprey s.a., Ltd. The Dilweg Companies (“Dilweg”), based in Durham, North Carolina, purchased the properties. Additionally, HFF worked on behalf of Dilweg to place fixed- and floating-rate financing with Torchlight Investors, based in New York City. The structured financing partially funded the acquisition and also has the capacity to fund near-term planned capital improvements and leasing-related costs on the properties.
First Citizens Bank Plaza is a 476,987-square-foot, Class A, 23-story multi-tenant office building comprising two towers with sweeping views of the new Charlotte Knights baseball park, Charlotte skyline and Tryon Street. Developed in 1986 and renovated in 2002, the property features a seven-story parking garage with 701 stalls, several on-site restaurants and a bank. Currently 29 percent occupied, tenants include First Citizens Bank; Collabera, Inc.; Manpower; Voya Financial Services; American Heart Association and Strategic Staffing. First Citizens Bank Plaza is located at 128 South Tryon Street in the core of downtown Charlotte between West Fourth and Trade Streets and two blocks from the new Gold Line, an Uptown streetcar system that connects to the Charlotte light rail system.
The 245,293-square-foot Sarasota City Center is a two-tower, Class A office building with 13 floors in the north tower and three floors in the south tower. Completed in 1989, the 88-percent-occupied property is home to multi-national, Fortune 500 and investment credit tenants, including Boar’s Head, RBC Capital Markets, Merrill Lynch and Wells Fargo. Additionally, the property features panoramic views of downtown Sarasota and the Sarasota Bay, a six-story parking garage with 625 stalls, on-site restaurant and bank, hair salon and spa, dry cleaners, fitness center, lockers and landscaped courtyard with tables and chairs. Situated one mile from the Gulf of Mexico, Sarasota City Center is located at 1819 Main Street on the northwest corner of Main Street and Links Avenue in the heart of downtown Sarasota. The property’s central location puts it within walking distance of several downtown amenities, including numerous restaurants and retail, Pane Park, Sarasota County Courthouse and a Whole Foods Market.
The HFF investment sales team representing the seller was led by senior managing director Ryan Clutter, senior managing director Hermen Rodriguez, director Scot Humphrey, associate director Chris Lingerfelt and associate Tracey Goo.
“The sale of First Citizens Bank Plaza and Sarasota City Center demonstrates the appeal in the marketplace for well-located, CBD assets with notable upside opportunities,” Clutter said. “Both of these exceptional assets are located in strong rent growth corridors and provide the opportunity to achieve attractive returns upon leasing up the remaining vacant space in each asset. We received strong interest in these assets and anticipate continued strong demand for similar offerings through the remainder of 2017. The leasing fundamentals in most southeastern markets are very strong, and investment capital is taking note.”
“First Citizens Plaza offers tremendous upside to its new ownership group and is one of the best-located office buildings in the Uptown Charlotte area,” Lingerfelt added.
HFF’s debt and equity placement team representing the buyer was led by senior managing director Travis Anderson and director Brent Bowman.
“First Citizens Bank Plaza and Sarasota City Center are two, well-located office buildings that will greatly benefit from a fresh infusion of capital as well as Dilweg’s strong track record of successfully stabilizing value-add office properties,” Anderson said.
“While the significant vacancy of First Citizens made acquisition financing challenging, ultimately the high-quality nature of the assets, prime CBD locations and experienced sponsorship attracted many lenders to the table,” Bowman added.
About Dilweg Companies
The Dilweg Companies is a full-service commercial real estate investment firm based in Durham, North Carolina. Since its launch in 1999, Dilweg has gained broad experience in the acquisition, development and operation of office, retail, warehouse/flex, multifamily and self-storage properties. Dilweg’s investors have sponsored over $1 billion in assets and more than 9.6 million square feet throughout North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and Georgia. For more information, please call (919) 402-9100 or go to www.dilweg.com.
About Torchlight Investors
Torchlight Investors provides investment management services to institutional clients seeking exposure to commercial real estate-related debt markets. Since its inception, Torchlight has acquired over $20 billion in commercial real estate debt investments - successfully managed portfolios through market cycles and has grown to a firm with over $4 billion of assets under management. Building upon Torchlight's deep knowledge of commercial real estate debt, Torchlight launched its distressed debt workout business in 1998 and is a nationally rated special servicer. For more information please visit www.torchlightinvestors.com/.
About HFF
Holliday Fenoglio Fowler, L.P. (“HFF”), HFF Securities L.P. and HFF Securities Limited (collectively, “HFFS”) are owned by HFF, Inc. (NYSE: HF). HFF operates out of 24 offices and is a leading provider of commercial real estate and capital markets services to the global commercial real estate industry. HFF, together with its affiliates, offers clients a fully integrated capital markets platform including debt placement, investment sales, equity placement, funds marketing, M&A and corporate advisory, loan sales and loan servicing. For more information please visit hfflp.com or follow HFF on Twitter @HFF.
