Westshore 500 office building purchased for $20.9 million

BUYER: ROC III Fairlead Westshore 500 LLC, Atlanta
SELLER: 500 WS Owner LLC
PROPERTY: 500 N. West Shore Blvd., Tampa
PRICE: $20.9 million
PREVIOUS PRICE: $20.1 million, February 2009
LAW FIRM ON DEED: Driver McAfee Peek & Hawthorne PL, Jacksonville

PLANS, DESCRIPTION:
Atlanta-based Fairlead Commercial Real Estate and equity partner Bridge Investment Group Partners purchased the 129,728-square-foot Westshore 500 office building for $20.9 million.

The price equated to $161 per square foot. That figure is higher than the two-year average price per square foot for office space ($119) in the Tampa Bay area, according to the CoStar Group.

Westshore 500 houses Geico, SunTrust and several smaller tenants. The building was roughly 80% occupied at the time of the sale, but its new owners say they are close to a deal to lease 17,000 square feet.

J.J. Conners, senior managing partner/principal with Fairlead Commercial Real Estate, says the company is also considering a number of upgrades and improvements. Cosmetic improvements are being considered for the exterior, lobby, elevator lobbies and common areas.

“We need to keep pace with the quality of the market,” he says. “We have a laundry list of items. We know we can't do them all, but we're exploring our options to make the building more pleasant to be a tenant in.”

Fairlead acquired the 19-story, 281,187-square-foot Fifth Third Center office building in downtown Tampa for $47.25 million in mid-2014.

The company is looking at other opportunities in the Tampa Bay area, Conners says, particularly those in the downtown central business district or Westshore. The company's development arm, Chestnut Hill Investments, is also looking at sites for future industrial development.

Fairlead Commercial Real Estate expects to acquire another $400 million to $600 million worth of industrial and office assets over the next 18 to 24 months in the Southeast and Texas.

Christian Lee, Dale Peterson, Charles Foschini and Marcos Minaya of CBRE's Capital Markets group represented the seller. Fairlead hired Colliers International's leasing team of Claire Calzon and Joanne LeBlanc to lease Westshore 500.

The purchase entity, ROC III Fairlead Westshore 500 LLC, mortgaged the property to BOKF NA dba Bank of Arizona for $18 million.