Related, CP Group Pay $145M for Office Complex in Downtown Fort Lauderdale
By Julia Echikson March 18, 2022 5:19 pm
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Some of the biggest office players in South Florida have traded a mixed-use property in Downtown Fort Lauderdale. A Related Companies-affiliate and the CP Group dropped $144.5 million to buy Las Olas Square, according to people with knowledge of the deal.
The development consists of two contiguous assets — a 17-story office tower built in 1991 and a three-story mixed-use building — in addition to a four-story parking structure.
The 267,000-square-foot property sits between SE 5th Avenue and Dixie Highway, occupying a full city block along the city’s main drag, Las Olas Boulevard.
The sellers, financial giant Apollo Global Management (APO), SQUARE2 and Steelbridge Capital, paid $86.5 million for the site in 2016, property records show.
Three years later, the joint venture reconfigured the low-rise building, which houses offices and a retail ground floor, totaling 52,808 square feet. In 2020, it also sold part of the property to Jorge Perez’s Related Group for $20 million, which is currently building a 50-story residential tower on the site.
Las Olas Square is now 88 percent leased to 17 tenants, including flex office provider Spaces, a Truist Bank branch, and restaurant Del Frisco’s Grille. Cushman & Wakefield’s Travis Herring and Katherine Ridgway will remain the leasing agents.
The buyers nabbed a $120 million floating-rate loan from an Alliance Bernstein fund. CBRE’s Amy Julian, who arranged the financing, declined to comment.
The joint venture plans to further invest in the property by renovating the lobby, common areas and outdoor spaces, and adding a café.
“As businesses continue to move to and expand in South Florida, we are excited to add this premier office property located on Fort Lauderdale’s most desirable office corridor to our portfolio, and to continue to improve its tenant offering,” Michael Winston, managing director of Related Fund Management, said in a statement.
The firm is the investment arm of Stephen Ross’ Related Companies, one of the most prominent developers in New York and West Palm Beach.
Its partner, CP Group, is an office powerhouse in South Florida. Last year, the Boca Raton-based investor, previously known as Crocker Partners, sold a stake in IBM‘s former research center for $320 million and bought Miami’s One Biscayne Tower for $225 million.
CBRE’s Christian Lee and Andrew Chilgren, who represented the sellers in the latest transaction, declined to comment.
Julia Echikson can be reached at Jechikson@commercialobserver.com.
