GlobeSt.com EXCLUSIVE: $17M Office Buy to Trade Today

The trust reportedly is paying $17 million for the two-year-old, 120,463-sf GE Capital Building at 4246 South Riverboat Rd. The class A office building is primarily leased for 10 years to credit tenant, GE Capital.

A week ago, the family trust spent $4.5 million for a freestanding Walgreens at 10400 S. Redwood Rd. in the suburb of South Jordan. Prime Commercial was the seller of the retail site that has Walgreens Corp. in hand for 20 years.

Ted Gibbons and Lauren Bear of Investment Realty Advisors, which has offices in major metropolitan cities nationwide, represented the buyer in both transactions. Both acquisitions are satisfying 1031 exchanges from raw land sales in the Pacific Northwest, Gibbons tells GlobeSt.com. "Because the Salt Lake city office market is diversified and has not experienced the volatility of West Coast markets such as Seattle and the Silicon Valley of California, the purchaser considered it a safe haven for investment in the present economic climate," he says. "Salt Lake City is a slow and steady market that investors see as having an attractive intrinsic for the long term."

The GE Capital Building's seller, SRP VII Properties LLC, could not be reached by press time. The Sorenson trust that owns this building is a merchant builder. Gibbons says the plan is to take sale proceeds and invest in constructing another building.

CB Richard Ellis Inc. represents the selling entity, which has as its principal James Sorenson Jr., a member of Forbes' Top 50 wealthiest people. Sorenson is the CEO of Sorenson Media, a Salt Lake City-based video compression technology and media communications company. He also is vice chairman of Sorenson Development Inc. His corporate bio includes extensive start up work in scientific- and technology-related companies as well as large-scale commercial real estate, residential and recreational resort developments.