Shorenstein Takes 90% Stake in Las Olas City Centre

Neither JV partner would disclose the price of the San Francisco-based investor's stake. On condition of anonymity, a broker familiar with the building and this market tells GlobeSt.com the price to Shorenstein was approximately $120 million. According to earlier GlobeSt.com reports, Stiles acquired the land for about $4.6 million in 2000, and the $92-million tower opened in October 2002.

Among the tenants in the 76% leased property, in addition to Bank of America, are UBS Financial Services, PriceWaterhouse Coopers, and the law firms of Greenberg Taurig and Rothstein Rosenfeldt. When the latter tenant inked its lease in December 2004, Rebecca Amesbury, marketing project manager for Stiles, told GlobeSt.com the asking rental rate was $23 per sf.

Doug Shorenstein, Shorenstein's chairman and CEO, says the purchase represented "an excellent opportunity to own a high-quality asset in a market where office employment is projected to grow at twice the rate of most other markets around the country." He credits Stiles as a leader in downtown development here and adds the partnership would work together "to add further value to this property." Stiles will continue as the property's manager.

Shorenstein exited South Florida in 2002 when it sold First Union Financial Center, now called Wachovia Financial Center, in Miami. The Las Olas Centre acquisition was made on behalf of the investor's sixth investment fund, which was raised in 2001 with $609 million in committed capital and also funded the purchase of nine other assets, located in New York City, Philadelphia, Chicago, Washington, DC, San Francisco and Sacramento.

Through its closed-end funds, since 1992, Shorenstein has acquired and developed more than 16 million sf at an investment cost of more than $3.3 billion. In a statement, Doug Eagon, Stiles president, says, "Having a major national force like Shorenstein partner with us on Las Olas City Centre is a significant indicator of the growing attractiveness of the Fort Lauderdale office market to institutional investors."