MEMPHIS-Highwoods Properties Inc. has acquired Crescent Center,a 336,000-square-foot-class A office building located in theupscale Poplar Avenue corridor in Memphis. The Raleigh, NC-basedREIT invested $52.6 million in the 24-year-old property.

To purchase the property, Highwoods assumed the debt, a CMBSloan from the former owner, an affiliate of BehringerHarvard. “While the loan balance is higher than $40.3million, the interest rate is below market and you have to mark thedebt to market,” says Tabitha Zane, vice president, investorrelations at Highwoods. “When you do that, the balance that goes onthe books is $40.3 million,” she says. An additional $12.3 millioncovered a cash payment and improvements to the property.

Crescent Center is a nine-story office building which sits on10.18 acres at the southwest corner of Poplar Avenue and Ridgeway Road near I-240.