Kirchberger's Golden Key Properties buys two Lake View Office buildings

BUYER: Golden Key Properties LLC (principal: Andreas Kirchberger), Port Charlotte
SELLER: PNC Bank successor by merger to RBC Bank (USA)
PROPERTY: 421 and 425 Commercial Court, Venice
PRICE: $1.5 million
PREVIOUS PRICE: $87,800, June 2002
LAW FIRM ON DEED: Carlton Fields PA, Orlando

PLANS, DESCRIPTION: Andreas Kirchberger-led investor group Golden Key Properties LLC has purchased its third Gulf Coast office property and its second in Sarasota County. The investor group purchased two buildings in Lake View Office Park for $1.5 million.

The price equated to $53 per square foot. That figure is less than half the two-year average price per square foot for office space ($115) in the Tampa Bay area, according to the CoStar Group.

The property included a 12,052-square-foot building at 421 Commerce Court and a 16,297-square-foot building at 425 Commerce Court. Only one unit in the two buildings was leased, leaving the space roughly 95% vacant. Tenant spaces range from 670 to 7,000 square feet.

Chris Malkin, Ashley Bloom and Ron Zeigler of Sperry Van Ness Florida represented the seller, PNC Bank, and Paul Forsberg of HG Real Estate Services represented the buyer.

Forsberg attributed the low occupancy to the tunnel vision to sell the property that sometimes comes with REO-owned property. He plans to market the property particularly to medical office users and professional office users, such as accountants.

“The day we were there doing our due diligence on it, two people stopped us to ask us if it was for rent,” he says. “I feel we should have a pretty high occupancy there in about three to six months.”

The rental asking price starts at $10 a square foot plus common area maintenance (CAM) fees.

Originally from Germany, Kirchberger currently lives in Canada and is reportedly moving to the United States.

In the past several weeks, his Golden Key Properties LLC purchased the 24,000-square-foot Placida Plaza retail center and additional development land in Rotanda West for $825,000 and eight office buildings in North Port's Toledo Blade Professional Center for $1.15 million. Both properties had similar high vacancies and were previously bank-owned.