Crocker, Cornerstone Close On The Purchase Of Esperante Corporate Center

esperanteThe $71 million sale of trophy downtown West Palm Beach office building Esperante Corporate Center has closed.
CREF Esperante acquired the 17-story building at 222 Lakeview Avenue, according to Palm Beach County records. The transaction closed on Nov. 26. It was recorded by the county on Monday.
No financing was recorded.
Connecticut firm Cornerstone Real Estate Advisers is identified as the manager of CREF Esperante. Cornerstone is believed to be partnering with Boca Raton-based Crocker Partners on the acquisition. Crocker is expected to manage the building and Cushman & Wakefield will take over leasing.
The seller is a company managed by CBRE Global Investors. In January 2009, it was sold to a CB Richard Ellis fund for a $67.55 million. The sale was part of a larger portfolio of office buildings outside the state. During the past two years, CBRE also has embarked on a makeover of the property, pouring $6 million into building upgrades.
Back in May, it was believed that Parkway Properties of Orlando was selected as the winning bidder for the property, with a price likely to be more than $80 million.
Through the years, prices for the property have been all over the map. In 2003, Trizec Properties, which bought Esperante in 1998 for $39 million, sold the building for $60.8 million to Rockwood Capital. Two years later, in November 2005, Rockwood flipped the 222 Lakeview Avenue building to ING Clarion for a record $105 million. Then in 2008, ING Clarion started dumping assets. Although some market watchers said ING Clarion had hoped for a blockbuster figure of $115 million, Esperante ended up selling for a loss to the CBRE fund.
Esperante got a pre-sale boost when law firm Cole Scott & Kissane agreed to lease 50,000 square feet at the building. The firm is relocating from the Sabadell United Bank building at 1645 Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard. That makes up for the upcoming departure of law firm Akerman.
 
Source:  The Real Deal

 

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