The price is the highest per-sf transaction completed in Central Florida in the last 15 years, according to GlobeSt.com research. The deal surpasses the $170.70 per sf tag ($109.25 million) Chicago entrepreneur Sam Zell paid for the Downtown 35-story, 640,000-sf SunTrust Tower in 1996.

Ireland purchased the Sprint asset from Maitland, FL-based Maitland Springs Inc. and developer Mike Fess of Orlando-based Equity Partners Inc. The deal closed Feb. 20.

Sprint has a 10-year lease at a rent below the class A Maitland market average of $22 per sf, according to area brokers familiar with the property. Sprint also put $9 million of its own money into the one-story building, including fiber optics installations, when it opened in July 2001.

Ted Gibbons, president of 24-year-old Investment Realty Advisors Inc. of Bellevue, WA, with an office in Boca Raton, FL, negotiated for Ireland. He tells GlobeSt.com Ireland's strategy in buying office properties across the country is to "look specifically for buildings with one or two investment-grade tenants signed to long-term leases in undervalued markets" such as Orlando and Dallas.

Ireland is buying new portfolio acquisitions from the $54 million sale proceeds of his 13-story Los Angeles Mart last year to New York-based Vornado Realty Trust, according to Gibbons who represents Ireland on all his deals.

"Orlando is one of the top markets nationwide for Sprint, in terms of growth projections," the broker tells GlobeSt.com. "This is another example of how Orlando is quickly becoming a center for high technology companies."

Gibbons describes the Sprint building as "a state-of-the-art call center and training facility, and is one of the most technologically advanced smart buildings in the country."

Besides the Sprint deal, Gibbons is working on the sale of the regional headquarters building of the St. Johns River Water Management District, adjacent to the Sprint property. That deal is expected to close in October.

Besides Investment Realty Advisors, Interstate Realty Advisors and Equity Partners Inc. participated in the Sprint transaction.

In a companion transaction, unrelated to the Sprint deal, Gibbons also closed the $4 million sale of the three-year-old, 20,000-sf Orlando Surgery Center, just off Downtown Orlando at 2000 N. Orange Ave.

Kurt Wallach, president, Kurtell Properties, Vero Beach, FL, bought the property for $200 per sf, one of the highest per-sf prices in the last eight years for a small medical office building in metro Orlando.

A limited partnership headed by Catalfumo Development Co. of West Palm Beach was the seller. The property has been ranked as one of the top small surgery centers in the state, according to industry newsletters. The Surgery Center is leased for 15 years to Symbion Ambulatory Resource Centers Inc. of Nashville, TN.