FORT WORTH-Behringer Harvard is eyeing the prospects of a condo conversion for its first buy in the city, the 350-unit, class A Firestone Upper West side. Sources on the street say the six-year-old CBD foothold, bought in a quietly marketed deal, has traded for $30 million to $35 million.
"We think it could lend itself very well to a condo conversion," Jason Mattox, senior vice president for the Dallas-based investment group, tells GlobeSt.com. To close the deal with the Dallas seller, Phoenix Properties Ltd., he says Behringer assumed a "north of $25-million loan" with Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America. The loan for the 1001 W. 7th St. asset bears a 6% fixed-rate interest and has three years left on the prepayment penalty schedule, he adds.
"It's the property that drove the deal," Mattox stresses, "not necessarily the financing." The Firestone development--11 buildings on 11 acres--was 97% leased at sale time. "It's a stabilized deal. In their mind, they had reaped all the necessary value," he explains, "and left a little on the table for us."
Sources say Phoenix Properties bought out its New York City-based equity partner, Deutsche Bank, in recent months and then brought the Fort Worth asset and others in its US portfolio to market under the watch of a CB Richard Ellis Inc. team. Firestone Upper West Side is one of two class A multifamily properties in the Downtown. The mix of one- and two-bedroom units, ranging from 641 sf to 1,641 sf, reels in monthly rents of $1.19 per sf or $1,116.
The complex's focal point is the 1929 Firestone Building, an adaptive reuse undertaking that now acts as the community center. Dallas-based Lincoln Property Co. will manage the holding, positioned within walking distance of Fort Worth's heart and soul, Sundance Square.
Firestone Upper West Side was funneled into the Behringer Harvard Strategic Opportunity Fund I LP, a privately structured parking ground for short-term holds. "It's not intended to be a long-term investment," Mattox explains. "We think there is plenty of value to be unlocked."
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