The tenant won the deal in a competitive bid process for theasset at 100 N. Stanton St., according to a press release byJeffrey R. Dunne, vice chairman in New York City for CB RichardEllis. He and CBRE first vice president Patrick J. Bisceglia,associate Todd Newman and the firm's managing director MichaelWhite in El Paso brokered the deal. Sources say several offers weregenerated for the sellers, Zurich Alternative Asset Management LLC,an insurance lender with its US headquarters in New York City, andStamford, CT-based RVI Group.

A source familiar with the transaction tells GlobeSt.com thatthe deal came down to El Paso Electric's desire to exercise itsright of first refusal for its headquarters building. "They'd movedin as a tenant years ago and ended up buying it so they couldcontrol their future destiny," the source says. "A lot of electricand utility companies do that. They'd rather own their headquartersthan lease them."

The source explains that El Paso Electric is the lead tenant,but it only fills about one-third of the class A office space. Thebuilding, roughly 30 years old, is 52% occupied. It could not bedetermined by press time which brokerage houses have the leasingand management assignments.