Brookwood Sells Gables CitiTower for $21M

According to published reports, Brookwood acquired the building at the end of 2002 for $17 million, which would put its profit from the sale at approximately $3.9 million. "Given the high level of investor interest in the market in general, and this property in particular, and having met our investment objectives, we elected to sell the property," says Kurt M. Zernich, Brookwood's managing director. The building "has been a consistently strong performing asset in one of the most attractive office submarkets in South Florida, which is one of primary reasons we originally acquired it."

Chris Lee, SVP with the institutional group of the Miami office of CB Richard Ellis, represented Brookwood in the transaction and also found the buyer. He tells GlobeSt.com the building is currently about 80% occupied by more than 30 different tenants. "It's in a great location. This transaction was good for the buyer and good for the seller."

This deal represents Brookwood's second property sale in Coral Gables and its sixth in the South Florida market in the past seven months. In March, it sold the 13-story office property at 2121 Ponce de Leon Blvd. here for $27.1 million or about $168.50 per sf, almost identical the per-sf-price tag for CitiTower. In April, it sold Brickell Bayview Centre in Miami for just over $50 million, realizing a gain of about $11.6 million since it acquired that property in 2003.