Wells REIT Tampa Sale Marks Record Price

Wells sold the single-tenant office building at 5104 Eisenhower Blvd. and the 5.2 acres of adjacent land to IPC US Income Commercial Real Estate Trust for $240 per sf. The property is in the city's Westshore office market and is 100% leased by IBM and International Academy of Design and Technology.

Wells purchased the four-story building in 1998 and has owned it through three separate tenants, with the most recent tenant extending back to a 10-year lease, John Carter, executive vice president of Carter, tells GlobeSt.com. He and Cheri O'Neil, senior vice president of Carter, brokered the deal. Wells decided to sell the office asset now because "the market and timing were good to get a good price," he adds.

In addition to the record price, the transaction became the first large sale for the REIT, according to John Carter. "This is the first asset sold through the REIT," he explains. "It felt the need to complete the cycle--take a building through purchase, management and sale--and the REIT thought this was a good (building) to do that with."

The entire process took four months, from the time Carter received the assignment to the sale, he adds. The asset was only on the market for 30 days before it went under contract.

"This sale is significant on several levels and we're very pleased with the outcome," says Parker Hudson, managing director of Wells Real Estate Investment Trust, in a statement. "This was our first large sale from the REIT and Carter worked with us to ensure that out needs were kept top of mind." He could not be reached for comment directly by GlobeSt.com.

According to Cushman & Wakefield, the Westshore submarket has 10.7 million sf of office inventory, with class A office space accounting for almost five million sf. The direct weighted average asking rate is $19.83, with class A space demanding an average of $22.31.