Banyan Street, Oaktree complete Tampa City Center deal

Banyan Street Capital and Oaktree Capital Management have closed on a $110 million purchase of the 38-story Tampa City Center skyscraper in downtown Tampa.

The pair bought the iconic 757,425-square-foot tower from Bryn Mawr, Pa.-based Alliance Partners HSP, which will continue to own the land underneath the former GTE Center at 201 N. Franklin St.

Alliance Partners bought the property, together with the underlying land, in 2014 for $128.1 million.

The purchase marks the third in recent years in downtown Tampa for Miami-based Banyan Street, which also owns the Rivergate Tower and the Bank of America Plaza.

Commercial real estate brokerage firm Cushman & Wakefield represented Alliance Partners in the sale and its equity, debt and structured finance group also arranged $84 million in financing for the transaction, future capital improvements and tenant improvement costs.

The brokerage firm, which maintains its offices in Tampa City Center, will continue leasing and managing the 37-year-old building.

“Tampa City Center’s unmatched location and connectivity to the Hilton hotel, Fort Brooke parking garage, Starbucks and The University Club differentiates this asset from all others in the (central business district),” says Cushman & Wakefield Vice Chairman Mike Davis, who together with Executive Director Rick Brugge and Executive Director Michael Lerner represented Alliance Partners in the transaction.

Tampa City Center’s major tenants include PNC Bank, Ernst & Young, Deloitte, Masonite, law firm Morgan & Morgan, General Electric subsidiary FieldCore and Ryan Cos. USA, among others.