Morning Calm Management–a Florida-based real estate investment and management firm with over 5 million square feet of commercial real estate throughout the U.S.–has acquired the four-story office building at 301 Yamato Road in Boca Raton, Fla., in a $39 million deal brokered by Marcus & Millichap.
“The asset’s historically stable tenancy and premier location between downtown Boca Raton and Delray Beach, combined with its attractive, iconic architectural features including a reflective glass facade and soaring atrium lobby, drew a great deal of attention from investors and the bidding process was very competitive,” said Senior Managing Director Douglas Mandel.
Completed in 1987, the building has a naturally lit atrium lobby, glass curtain walls and is connected to a five-story parking garage through an air-conditioned bridge.
The property’s previous owner, Stoltz Realty, obtained $188 per square foot for the Boca Conference & Executive Center, a 41% gain from its last sale. In 2015, when the property was facing a foreclosure lawsuit, the company resolved to refinance the debt through an internal transfer worth $27.6 million.
Now, Morning Calm plans to reposition the 206,946-square-foot-Boca Raton office building. Although boasting a healthy 92% occupancy rate–with tenants including TDL, Bridge Direct, Seeman Holtz and Client First Settlement Funding–the property’s lease rates are 10 to 15 percent below-market, something that its new owner is looking forward to adjust. As part of a “buy it, fix it, sell it” plan, the company also secured a $29.5 million loan with Allegiance Real Estate Capital.
The deal is just one of several recent moves on the Boca Raton office market, which included the sale of Sabre Centre I, The Atrium at Broken Sound and URS Corporate Center. “Boca Raton continues to be a highly sought after submarket for the private client investor due to its prestige and strong underlying fundamentals,” said Marcus & Millichap’s C. Todd Everett.
