"The key thing about this deal is the price per sf. It would cost well over $250 per sf to replace today," Ted Gibbons, president of Investment Realty Advisors Inc. in Bellevue, WA, tells GlobeSt.com about the acquisition of 8505 Freeport Pkwy. The six-story building is 95% leased, with 80% of the office space as the North America headquarters for Hanson Aggregates Inc., with nine years left on its Las Colinas submarket lease.

Gibbons says the buyer is a private investor from South Florida. The seller is a limited partnership with Naples, FL and Minneapolis ties, which had the NAI Welsh team of Bob Pounds, Tim Prinsen and Betsy Budge in the Twin Cities region marketing the 8.3-acre property.

"It was a fairly competitive situation," Gibbons says. "I'm really amazed that we could buy this asset at that price." The property was marketed for $17 million.

Underwriting the purchase is an 18% increase in contracted rent in the coming four years, according to Gibbons. The 5% vacancy is being marketed for $17.50 per sf plus electric by Jones Lang LaSalle, which held onto the leasing and management pacts with the ownership change.

Gibbons says there are no upgrades planned for the 25-year-old structure. "The interior space is absolutely gorgeous," he adds.

The broker says the buyer secured a $6-million loan from New York City-based Lehman Bros. to make the close. And, the plan is to hold for the long term.

Gibbons credits the buyer's interest to the metroplex's fundamentals, central US positioning and the price per sf of the deal. "Investors like Dallas because they get a higher cap rate on the same intrinsics," he adds.