The Blackstone Group buys Highland Oaks

BUYER: BRE/COH FL LLC, New York City
SELLER: Duke Secured Financing 2009-1PAC LLC
PROPERTY: 4041 Park Oaks Blvd. and 10401, 10210 and 10150 Highland Manor Drive, Tampa
PRICE: $58.14 million
PREVIOUS PRICE: $3 million, November 1997, $1.25 million, June 2006 and $4 million, October 1999

SELLER: Duke Realty Limited Partnership
PROPERTY: 4042 Park Oaks Blvd., Tampa
PRICE: $16.69 million
PREVIOUS PRICE: $4 million, October 1999

LAW FIRM ON DEED: Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, New York City

PLANS, DESCRIPTION: New York City-based The Blackstone Group purchased the five-building Highland Oaks office development for $74.83 million.

The price equated to $130 per square foot.

Located at the northwest corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Interstate 75, the class A park features the 575,183-square-foot Highland buildings, a 450,000-square-foot JP Morgan Chase building and a 3.44-acre vacant site. Deeds recorded as of press time, however, indicate that Blackstone only acquired the five buildings. The sale included the 124,597-square-foot building I, 125,318-square-foot building II, 98,420-square-foot building III, 128,376-square-foot building IV and 98,472-square-foot building V.

Highland Oaks is a Verizon Smart Park with access to fiber optic networking.

Duke Realty Corp. sold the properties as part of a $1.06 billion suburban office portfolio sale. The deal included 79 properties offering 9.8 million square feet of space. The portfolio generates a net operating income per square foot of $10.56.

Duke Realty officials declined to comment and Blackstone officials did not return calls for comment prior to deadline.