GlobeSt.com EXCLUSIVE: Pension Fund Sells 89,000-SF Office Building

IRVING, TX-The New York City owner of Republic Center in Downtown Dallas has tucked away a second office deed in the metroplex. In a $6-million exchange, the buyer has picked up a class B-plus, 89,000-sf building with an 89% occupancy.

Sina Mahfar, head of the privately owned SMA Inc., used 1031 exchange funds and new financing to acquire Parkway Tower at 8445 Freeport Parkway in Las Colinas from the Ventura County Employees Retirement System, a Prudential-advised pension fund client. John Alvarado, senior vice president for Dallas-based Trammell Crow Co. tells GlobeSt.com that the new owner went up against nearly a dozen offers: three from Florida, two from California and a handful of local investors. The building came to market in December 2004, but SMA exercised a couple extensions to get time to put a 1031 exchange to bed, Alvarado says.

“The building is stable so it was perfect for a 1031 exchange,” Alvarado says. DynCorp. International LLC’s headquarters is the lead tenant, tied to a pact with another four years on the term. Bank of America just inked a five-year extension to secure its space through 2010, he says. Of the half dozen other tenants, the North Texas Commission’s lease is the only one rolling this year and negotiations already are under way, according to Alvarado.

The new owner turned over leasing and property management to Transwestern Commercial Services’ Dallas office, which also oversees SMA’s CBD asset. Built in 1982, the building sits on 3.5 acres in “a strong micro-market of Las Colinas,” says Alvarado, who teamed with Ryan Thornton to close the $6-million sale for the eight-year owner. The buyer made the close with a Holliday Fenoglio Fowler LP-arranged loan with GE Capital Mortgage Corp.