First-time Texas buyer Forester Properties Inc. of Los Angeles was one of the highest offers on the table for Northwest Corporate Center at 4700-4950 Research Dr., but the guaranteed certainty of close was the decisionmaker, according to Bill Tourtellotte, vice president of the Newtown Square, PA-based GMH Capital Partners. "We had a lot of confidence in this buyer," Tourtellotte tells GlobeSt.com. "They were a known quantity and trustworthy buyer that had a very high probability of closing."

The 98,828-sf office/warehouse complex, developed in 1984 on 7.7 acres, was 96.3% leased at sale time. Tourtellotte says most leases have three- and five-year terms, setting up a 29% rollover this year. However, 24% of the in-place pacts were bed down last year by Cavender & Hill Properties Inc. of San Antonio, which will continue to lease and manage the asset, according to Tourtellotte. The lead tenant is ABPS Management LLC, filling 9,400 sf or 9.5% of the office/warehouse space.

Tourtellotte says Forester got a free-and-clear deed, opting to leverage the purchase with financing from Bear Stearns Inc. of New York City. He says Forester was up against 14 others for the complex, a mix of buildings ranging from 13,290 sf to 21,419 sf that caught investors' eyes for its location beside the USAA campus. Last October, ITW sold the 175,200-sf Isom Business Park at 919-981 Isom Rd. in the city's northeast submarket for $9.45 million to Houston-based Weingarten Realty Investors.