Griffin Capital Closes $29M Office Deal

Griffin completed the 1031 exchange deal with 30 individual investors who collectively invested $13.1 million. JP Morgan Chase provided a first mortgage of $15.5 million. Terms of the loan were not disclosed. The investment group retained Transwestern Commercial Services to lease and manage the property.

Griffin president Kevin Shields called the deal "complex" and "daunting" but says 1200 Ashwood Parkway is "a high-quality, institutional product." He projects "outstanding, long-term growth prospects" for the acquisition. Most of the individual equity investors were brought into the deal by 1031 Exchange Options of Walnut Creek, CA, Shields says.

Shields tells GlobeSt.com the deal was completed in 90 days, from contract signing to closing. He says there were no environmental challenges or bureaucratic hurdles to overcome by either buyer or seller in closing the deal. No brokers were involved.

"This was a direct negotiation between Griffin and Transwestern," Shields says. "The property was never on the market. Griffin submitted a pre-emptive bid and negotiated the acquisition directly with the seller." Transwestern bought the property as part of a larger portfolio in 2000.

Shields says Transwestern Investment Co. had owned 1200 Ashwood Parkway in one of its Asian Funds, an ongoing series of closed-end funds with institutional investors focused exclusively on domestic, value-added office and industrial properties. "This sale is part of a timely realization of returns in this particular fund," Shields says. "On this asset, MONY (Insurance Co. of New York) is a joint venture partner with Transwestern."

The 21-tenant property was built in 1984 and renovated in 1994 and 2000. The average asking base rent is $18.50 per sf. The largest tenants are Prosero, CPA firm Gifford Hillegas & Ingwersen, TEKsystems, H&R Block, Uni-ter, Target and the US Forest Service.

The property, in the Central Perimeter submarket, is 1.3 miles north of the intersection of GA 400, the city's major north-south highway and Interstate 285 which circles Atlanta. The 27-million-sf Central Perimeter is the city's largest office submarket and takes its name from the nearby 1.5-million-sf Perimeter Mall.

Shields says Griffin Capital has been licensed by the National Association of Securities Dealers as a broker-dealer for 10 years. Griffin also has offices in Chicago and Greenwich, CT.