Alliance Partners HSP buys Tampa City Center

BUYER: 201 North Franklin Tampa LLC (201 North Franklin-Tampa Bay LLC), Tampa
SELLER: One Tampa City Center LLC
PROPERTY: (building) 107-201 N. Franklin St., Tampa
PRICE: $92.1 million

BUYER: Terra Funding — Tampa City Center LLC (member: Terra Funding -Tampa Bay LLC and vice president: Kimberly Aquino), Honolulu, Hawaii
SELLER: One Tampa City Center LLC
PROPERTY: (land) 107-201 N. Franklin St., Tampa
PRICE: $25.63 million
PREVIOUS PRICE: $87.8 million, September 2006
LAW FIRM ON DEED: Broad and Cassel, Boca Raton

PLANS, DESCRIPTION:
Bryn Mawr, Pa.-based private real estate investment and operating company Alliance Partners HSP LLC purchased the real estate of 39-story Tampa City Center in two deeded transactions totaling $117.73 million.

The price equated to $157 per square foot. That figure is higher than the two-year average price per square foot for office space ($118) in the Tampa Bay area, according to the CoStar Group.

The total acquisition cost of the property, including nontaxable intangibles such as building equipment and leases, was $128.13 million, equal to $171 per square foot.

Built in 1981, the 749,035-square-foot office tower was downtown Tampa's largest building until 1986. It is currently downtown's second-largest office building, behind Netpark Tampa Bay.

The building contains several energy efficient and environmentally sustainable features and is LEED Gold certified. It is also wired and configured as a Verizon SmartCenter. In addition, the building is directly connected into the city-owned 2,523-space Fort Brooke garage and has a walkway to the Hilton Tampa Downtown hotel.

Its tenants include Cushman & Wakefield, Merrill Lynch, University Club, Bank of Tampa, Florida Bank, Ernst & Young, PNC Bank, Verizon and Northwest Mutual Insurance Co. The occupancy at the time of the sale was 86.5%.

Cushman & Wakefield's Capital Markets Group represented the seller, a joint venture of Carval Investors of Minneapolis and Mainstreet Capital Partners of Fort Lauderdale. Cushman & Wakefield Executive Director Mike Davis, Director Rick Brugge, Executive Director David Meline and Senior Director Michael Lerner handled the transaction.

In addition, Cushman & Wakefield's Atlanta-based Equity Debt and Structured Finance Group also arranged an acquisition loan for the buyer. GE Capital Corp. provided the senior debt.

The brokerage, which managed the building until 2006, has been hired to manage and lease it.

Alliance Partners HSP is the East Coast operating arm of The Shidler Group.