New owner plans improvements, says it wants to support Downtown growth.
Ash Properties wants to start renovations of the BB&T Tower Downtown now that its $24.47 million acquisition of the Northbank high-rise closed Tuesday.
“We want to proceed immediately for improvements,” said Randall Whitfield, COO of the Jacksonville-based commercial real estate developer.
Work will include lobby renovations that include furniture, flooring and décor, bringing the common areas “up to a more modern and open look to generate the interest in and excitement of new tenants,” Whitfield said.
Randall Whitfield
There also could be some exterior upgrades.
The 18-story, 285,497-square-foot high-rise at 200 W. Forsyth St. was built in 1975. Whitfield said it is 64 percent leased, which indicates about 100,000 square feet of office space is available for lease.
Ash Properties bought the property through Talara Investment Group LLC, which was registered with the state June 7. The deed was recorded Thursday with the Duval County Clerk of Courts.
The purchase includes a seven-story, 700-space parking garage across the street with ground floor retail space that is about 50 percent leased, Whitfield said. That presents more opportunities for new Downtown tenants.
The garage, accessible to the building by an underground tunnel, provides two parking spaces for each 1,000 square feet leased by tenants, which Whitfield said is a good ratio Downtown.
Ash Properties bought the building at a May auction. Transwestern Managing Director John Bell led the sale on behalf of the seller, special servicer LNR Partners and John Mitchell, its asset manager.
More than 300 bids came in for the property, Transwestern said in a news release Thursday. “This was one of the most sought-after office investments in Jacksonville to date this year,” Bell said.
Ash was the high bidder at $23.3 million. Whitfield said the sales price reflected a buyer’s premium.
Transwestern, based in Houston, said the building sold on the Ten-X auction platform.
Transwestern said that since LNR Partners took the title of the office building, “Mitchell implemented a successful leasing strategy to preserve occupancy and renew expiring tenants” while managing $3.87 million in property upgrades, including “an elevator modernization program with North Florida’s first state-of-the-art destination dispatch elevators.”
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