ST. LOUIS-Two local investors, Solon Gershman Inc. executive managing director Burt Follman and Chicago-based Alliance Equities LLC president Ben Reinberg, have purchased two office buildings here in the West Port/I-270 submarket. The Park 270 buildings One and Two, totaling 275,000 sf, were bought for $32.8 million from Arthur Hill & Co.

Park 270 One is a five-story office building that was built in 1984. Park 270 Two is a six-story office building just north of One, and was built in 1987. The buildings are 87% occupied, Follman says. Major tenants include Xtra Lease Inc., JP Morgan, Sprint Communications LP and the Doe Run Resource Co. The asking lease rate is $21 per sf.

Follman tells GlobeSt.com that the properties had been built by a single developer, but then split up in ownership. This split lasted until the previous owner purchased them, consolidated the portfolio and sold it to Follman and Reinberg. “While they were split, building Two was better maintained as a pure class A building, while building One became more of a class B,” he says. “Our intention is to upgrade it back to a class A building.” He says the company will enhance some of the amenities on the property, add some green building practices, and then plan to sell the portfolio in the next three-to-five years, “our typical hold period.”

Before the sale, however, Follman says his group may look to build a 50,000-sf building Three on the site. 'We're pretty sure we can do it. We've talked to the city, they are receptive, and met with some architects. The previous owner already did some of the legwork. We'd have to put in another deck of parking,” he says. The new facility would have to be preleased, not spec construction, Follman says.

He says both black curtain-wall buildings have great exposure along I-270, in a corridor where the vacancy has dropped from 11.9% to 10.5% from January to July 2007. “The whole region seems to be doing well,” Follman says. “There's some big users in the market. Enterprise Rent-A-Car and Panera Bread are both based here, and they're both looking for a large chunk of additional space.”