Private Investors Snap Up Two Broward Assets

HOLLYWOOD, FL-Private owner/investors have snapped at opportunities to buy smaller assets as vacancy tightens in the office and industrial sectors of Southeast Broward County. Evidence comes from two unrelated sales transactions, a 79,143-sf industrial portfolio here and a 40,000-sf office building in Lauderdale Lakes.

Warwick Hollywood Properties LLC paid $6.5 million, or just above $82 per sf, for a portfolio consisting of nine of the 11 industrial units at 2311 Thomas St. here, plus two parking lots across N. 23rd Street. The asset had been occupied by a single tenant and was sold 100% vacant.

The overall industrial vacancy rate in Southeast Broward is 1.9%, and the average asking rental rate is $7.99 per sf, according to data from the area office of CB Richard Ellis. Marc Strauss, senior investment associate, and sales associate Chuck Ruddy of the Fort Lauderdale office of Marcus & Millichap, represented the seller, identified as Two & Four Inc., and also secured the buyer.

In Lauderdale Lakes, 21st Century Holding Co. sold the 40,000-sf Bank of America office building at 3661 W. Oakland Park Blvd. along with a 2.5-acre adjacent lot to Wilton Centre LLC for $5.9 million, or $147.50 per sf. Prior to the sale, the seller inked a six-year lease for a little more than 50% of the building, which also includes a BofA branch. Brian DiRienzo and Grant Savage, VPs in the Boca Raton office of Grubb & Ellis, represented both the buyer and the seller in the transaction and also negotiated 21st Century’s lease.

“This transaction was truly a win/win for both parties,” DiRienzo says. “Wilton Centre acquired an excellent property with strong investment grade tenants in a location undergoing significant expansion and redevelopment. Conversely, 21st Century is able to maintain its corporate headquarters location.” He declined to disclose the value of the lease.

Speaking for all of South Florida’s office market, Gene Berman, SVP and managing director of Marcus & Millichap’s Fort Lauderdale office, says, “investors are attracted to the market’s positive demographics and emerging constraints on new supply.” His office’s research puts average effective office rental rates at $19.33 per sf.