MIAMI—Rivergate Tower, a Class A, 515,965-square-foot iconic office building in Tampa, Florida, just traded  hands. The office building is located at 400 North Ashley Drive.

BankUnited provided a $58 million loan for the purchase and planned renovations. The CBRE team included Christian Lee, Dale Peterson, Charles Foschini, Chris Apone, Jose Lobon, and Marcos Minaya. BankUnited's Gregory Santín handled the financial arrangements.

“The Tampa CBD has experienced 135,000 square feet of positive absorption over the last 18 months, filling up office buildings and motivating owners to become sellers,” Christian Lee, vice chairman of CBRE, tells GlobeSt.com. “Meanwhile, with class A vacancy approaching single digits, the investment community is confident that sharp rent growth is around the corner. This optimism has created the right environment for buyer and seller expectations to come together. This was a classic win-win transaction, and a pleasure to be involved with.”

The sale of Rivergate Tower is the third recent Tampa CBD office tower sale that CBRE has brokered in the last year, following Wells Fargo Plaza and Fifth Third Center. CBRE represented the seller in the transaction, IR-Rivergate, a venture between Mount Kellett Capital Management and Morning Calm Management.

“The influx of new residents and amenities into the urban core is driving demand for office space,” Dale Peterson, senior vice president at CBRE, tells GlobeSt.com. “Class A office assets in this submarket are enjoying a market vacancy hovering around 10% and stand to benefit further from the submarket's revitalization. Rivergate Tower will become one of the premier class A buildings in the downtown market once the new owner completes its planned renovation program.”           

Constructed in 1988 for $150 million, and designed by architect Harry Wolf, the 31-story Rivergate Tower's unique cylindrical design symbolizes a lighthouse and represents optimism. It is one of the tallest limestone structures in the world and offers unobstructed 360-degree views of the Tampa skyline.

“Mount Kellett Capital Management acquired Rivergate Tower as part of a 19-property portfolio in the fourth quarter of 2014, with Morning Calm Management serving as its operating partner,” Mukang Cho, CEO and principal of Morning Calm Management, tells GlobeSt.com. “The 3-million-square-foot portfolio consisted of a diverse mix of office and retail properties, and offered both the opportunity to create value via lease-up and repositioning with select assets, and the ability to immediately unlock value on certain properties that were stabilized.”

Rivergate's architecture makes it an easily recognizable landmark, and earned it a National Honor Award from the American Institute of Architects in 1993. Property amenities include a two-story, 735-space underground parking garage, Malio's Prime Steakhouse, a high-quality fitness facility, an upscale breakfast and lunch emporium, a full-service branch bank and ATM, conference rooms and complimentary valet parking. The only office building located directly on the Tampa Riverwalk, it is located within a two-block radius of 90% of downtown amenities including the University of Tampa and the Straz Center for the Performing Arts.

“During the last few months, we have conducted an in-depth analysis of each asset and systematically taken properties to market when we believed there were opportunities to generate attractive returns,” says Cho. “Rivergate Tower was the sixth property that met our criteria.” The property is currently 80% leased to tenants including multinational and national and regional corporate tenants including; Sykes Enterprises, Butler Pappas, Wilson Human Capital, Digital Hands and Northstar Bank.