American Ventures Sells Coral Gables Office Tower
August 02, 2006
Miami, Aug. 2, 2006 – American Ventures Realty Investors, the largest institutional real estate investment manager in Florida, today announced it has completed the sale of its office tower in Coral Gables, Fla., to RREEF for approximately $60 million, or $272 per square foot. The 220,000 square-foot property at 255 Alhambra Circle had been part of American Ventures’ investment portfolio since 1994. Since 2004, American Ventures had owned the property in a joint venture with Investcorp, a global investment group.
“This essentially is a win-win transaction,” said Philip Blumberg, president and CEO of American Ventures. “The price amounts to a 50-percent return for American Ventures and Investcorp in just two years. The transaction price also reflects the strength of the commercial real estate market in Florida. Given the robust environment, we anticipate that this office building – and others like it in the area – will continue to generate strong cash flows for years to come.”
Acquirer RREEF, a leading U.S.-based real estate investment manager, is a division of DB real estate, the investment management group of Deutsche Asset Management.
RREEF has retained American Ventures to continue to manage the office tower property.
The Coral Gables office tower is 91-percent leased and includes BankUnited, Stiefel Laboratories and Watson & Wyatt Worldwide as principal tenants. American Ventures sold the property as part of a rebalancing of its investment portfolios, which have comprised some $500 million in commercial real estate and other assets.
“We are continuing to evaluate opportunities to grow our investment returns through acquisitions, as well as divestments,” said Blumberg. American Ventures’ holdings include commercial properties in the Southeast and Southwest United States. Blumberg recently formed an investor group that bid on the News Corporation headquarters building at 1211 Avenue of the Americas in New York City.
The Coral Gables sale follows on the heels of the March 2006 divestment of American Ventures’ Brickell Office Tower in Miami. That property sold for in excess of $325 per net rentable square foot, setting a record transaction price at the time for the Miami commercial real estate market on a dollar-per-square-foot basis.
Founded in 1979 by CEO Philip Blumberg, American Ventures specializes in U.S. investment and asset management of commercial real estate. Its investors are comprised of high net worth individuals and institutional investors, including pension funds, foundations and banks. American Ventures, a Blumberg Capital Partners company, is a member of the National Council of Real Estate Investment Fiduciaries. For more information, visit www.americanventures.com.
Contact: American Ventures Realty Investors
Sean Healy, 212-453-2438