The tenant won the deal in a competitive bid process for the asset at 100 N. Stanton St., according to a press release by Jeffrey R. Dunne, vice chairman in New York City for CB Richard Ellis. He and CBRE first vice president Patrick J. Bisceglia, associate Todd Newman and the firm's managing director Michael White in El Paso brokered the deal. Sources say several offers were generated for the sellers, Zurich Alternative Asset Management LLC, an insurance lender with its US headquarters in New York City, and Stamford, CT-based RVI Group.
A source familiar with the transaction tells GlobeSt.com that the deal came down to El Paso Electric's desire to exercise its right of first refusal for its headquarters building. "They'd moved in as a tenant years ago and ended up buying it so they could control their future destiny," the source says. "A lot of electric and utility companies do that. They'd rather own their headquarters than lease them."
The source explains that El Paso Electric is the lead tenant, but it only fills about one-third of the class A office space. The building, roughly 30 years old, is 52% occupied. It could not be determined by press time which brokerage houses have the leasing and management assignments.
The source did say that the building easily could be repositioned to take advantage of the growing demand for class A office space in the Downtown market. "The owner won't need to make any upgrades," the source adds. "The building was in good shape and El Paso ended up with a very good investment."
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