Pebb Capital, Intalex Capital and CDS International Holdings have teamed up to acquire a half-empty office building in downtown Fort Lauderdale for $43 million.
Pebb Chairman Todd Rosenberg said the partnership is expected to boost tenant occupancy at 110 East in the coming months, and more than 70,000 square feet of new leases have already been signed. The 24-story tower is located at 110 East Broward Avenue.
For the 343,500-square-foot building, the deal was priced at $125 per square foot.
Buyers and sellers were represented by a CBRE team led by Christian Lee and Andrew Chilgren, a subsidiary of San Francisco-based Stockbridge Capital Group, according to a release. CDS, a Delray Beach-based family office, is led by Carl DeSantis and is also represented by Greenwall Capital Management and the law firm of Kapp Morrison.
Stockbridge member payment $41.1 million For construction in 2017, records show.
usIntalex and CDS competed with several bidders after 110 East entered the market last year without an asking price, Rosenberg said.
“It depends on our prices and our ability to execute,” he said. “Despite the many, many headwinds we’ve had since the contract was signed, the deal was finally done.”
Among the issues, getting funding was more difficult and taking longer than expected because of the general unease surrounding office properties, Rosenberg said.
Once the partner has paid the non-refundable deposit, he and Intalex Capital Rosenberg said managing partner Bryson Ridgeway worked with their leasing team to drive occupancy at 110 East to more than 50 percent.
The new lease “was completed even before we closed, which put us in a better position,” Rosenberg said. “We are also in talks with a number of other potential tenants who are interested in occupying the building.”
The tenant mix includes engineering firms, law firms and administrative offices for various companies, Rosenberg said. The partners plan to improve the common areas of 110 East, which has been completely renovated by the seller, he added.
The new owner also plans to offer tenants improvements and concessions at very “attractive rent figures,” Rosenberg said. Asking prices for 110 East start as low as $30.
Travis Herring and Katherine Rideway of Cushman & Wakefield are handling the lease. If new lease negotiations are successful, 110 East will fill an additional 125,000 square feet to stabilize the building’s occupancy rate, Rosenberg said.
Founded in 2014, Boca Raton-based Pebb Capital has amassed a commercial real estate portfolio worth more than $2 billion, according to a press release. Since 2006, Fort Lauderdale-based Intalex has developed more than $1.5 billion in office, medical office, retail and multifamily residential projects. CDS real estate holdings include Bank of America’s leased office property in Delray Beach $25 million last year; and another Delray Beach office building it acquired $3.1 million 2019.
