St. Joe Buys Windward Portfolio for Estimated $70M

ALPHARETTA, GA-St. Joe Commercial Inc., the commercial investment, asset management and development arm of the St. Joe Co., has acquired the three-building, 465,000-sf Windward office portfolio here from Atlanta-based Holder Properties Inc. The transaction brings St. Joe’s office holdings in metro Atlanta to about one million sf, based on two previously recorded sales.

St. Joe didn’t disclose the acquisition price of the Windward buildings. However, area office brokers familiar with the local office submarket tell GlobeSt.com the properties were probably priced at about $150 per sf, or a total $70 million.

The properties are Windward Plaza 100, 132,000 sf; Windward Pointe 200, 130,000 sf; and Windward Plaza 300, 203,000 sf. Windward Plaza 100 and 300 are 100% leased. Windward Pointe 200 is 65% leased. Among the major tenants at the three-building complex are GE Capital, E-Trade Financial and Ashland Inc.

“This acquisition provides a combination of a high-quality suburban office space with excellent tenants and long-term lease potential,” St. Joe Commercial president Frank Herring says in a prepared statement.

The purchase is part of St. Joe’s capital redeployment program in which proceeds from the sale of certain parcels of the company’s land in Northwest Florida are reinvested in income-producing, multi-tenant office properties in select markets, Herring says. “This purchase complements our broader acquisition strategy,” he says.

St. Joe’s portfolio of commercial office buildings acquired through the capital redeployment program totals 2.3 million sf and represents an aggregate investment of $315 million.

This is St. Joe’s second major acquisition in the Atlanta market in 11 months. The company previously purchased 5660 New Northside Dr. and the 280 Interstate North office building. Both buildings total about 400,000 sf.

Advantis Real Estate Services Co., St. Joe’s full-service real estate firm, will manage the Windward properties under the guidance of Chuck Francis, Advantis’ regional director of leasing. Scott R. Kaufmann, director of real estate investments for St. Joe Commercial, participated in the Windward acquisition.