INDIANAPOLIS—The growing popularity of office spaces in urban cores has brought great benefits to Indianapolis, with more companies moving downtown and investors buying up towers with plans to upgrade and reposition the properties. True North Management Group has decided to take advantage of the investment climate here by putting the 441,641 square foot BMO Plaza building up for sale.

The company has already invested more than $4.4 million into the 28-story building at 135 North Pennsylvania St. to expand and upgrade the amenity package. It now includes a tenant lounge, conference facility and workout center.

“The leasing team has been able to achieve 70% occupancy in a relatively short period of time, a strong indicator of this asset's strength in the marketplace,” James Hanson, principal of Avison Young, tells GlobeSt.com. “This is a great opportunity for investors to enter the downtown Indianapolis market with a class A building that has been repositioned and has a proven track record of success.”

Hanson and principal Erik Foster, working in conjunction with Bill Ehret, a principal and managing director of Avison Young's Indianapolis office, have been awarded the sale listing. 

Five large tenants, including BMO Harris Bank, the Department of Defense, General Electric, Quarles & Brady, and Rubin & Levin, now anchor the building.

Ehret joined Avison Young in March to launch the firm's Indianapolis office and has completed over 80,000 square feet of new and renewal leasing in the building in the last 18 months.

“This is a great opportunity for investors to enter the downtown Indianapolis market with a class A building that has been positioned for continued leasing and rent growth,” says Hanson.

As reported in GlobeSt.com, in the last three years, 40% of the top Indianapolis office properties have traded hands. In 2014, New York-based Nightingale Properties purchased the 36-story, 696,000 square foot Regions Tower, and the 515,000 square foot Market Tower was bought out of foreclosure by Chicago-based Zeller Realty Group.

One sign of the growing CBD office market is the vast amount of residential construction going on downtown. Downtown Indianapolis is currently tracking more than $714 million of investment in residential development year to date in 2015, creating even more demand for jobs and offices downtown.

“With strong fundamentals and no new office construction on the horizon in Indianapolis, we expect this asset to be in strong demand,” says Foster.

“This is a great opportunity for investors to enter the downtown Indianapolis market with a class A building that has been repositioned and has a proven track record of success.”