Obra Real Estate Lends $52M on Jacksonville Business Park Repositioning

Savlan Capital has sealed $52 million of acquisition financing for the purchase and repositioning of a seven-building office and flex warehouse portfolio in Jacksonville, Fla.

Obra Real Estate provided the loan for Savlan’s newly-acquired Lakeside & Flagler Center Business Park property that Savlan purchased from TD Bank Group for $52 million. The deal also includes funding for Savlan to reposition the 765,190 square-foot portfolio with tenant improvements. 

TD acquired the business through a foreclosure sale last year, according to the Jacksonville Daily Record, which first reported the financing citing property records. 

Arrow Real Estate Advisors arranged the financing with a team consisting of Morris Betesh, Alex Bailkin, Matt O’Hanlon and Andrew Rosenberg, according to a release. 

“We are seeing tremendous opportunities in the office sector for opportunistic sponsors that are purchasing assets at a reset basis.” Betesh, founder and managing partner of Arrow, said in a statement. “This was a rare opportunity for the sponsor to acquire a newer vintage portfolio of class A office and flex properties at a significant discount to replacement cost.” 

Betesh added that the deal closed in “an expedited 30 day timeframe,” and provided” significant leasing capital in support of ownership’s aggressive repositioning strategy.” 

Savlan is planning to allocate “significant reserves” for tenant improvements and upgrades, according to Arrow. 

Located at 12735 Gran Bay Parkway West 17 miles south of Downtown Jacksonville, the business park consists of four flex office properties and three traditional office buildings. The property’s tenant base includes  HTS Logistics’ corporate headquarters, Ernst & Young, Kimley-Horn, United Healthcare Service and Siemens Mobility. 

The portfolio faced vacancy challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic and is currently 57.2 percent occupied, according to Savlan. 

“We are fully capitalized and ready to do deals,”  Zusha Tenenbaum, founder and CEO of Savlan said in a statement. “We have allocated significant reserves for future [tenant improvement ] packages and upgrades and are willing to execute creative, tenant-driven leases.”

Obra Real Estate did not immediately return a request for comment.

Andrew Coen can be reached at acoen@commercialobserver.com