INDIANAPOLIS — Indianapolis-based Duke Realty Corp. has closed on two significant deals in the Southeast. The REIT closed on its purchase of a majority of the properties in a $450 million South Florida portfolio. It also sold a five-property office portfolio in Cincinnati and Nashville, Tenn., for $97 million.
In the first deal, Duke closed on 43 of the 56 properties it acquired from Pompano Beach, Fla.-based Premier Commercial Realty. The portfolio consists of 51 bulk warehouse/distribution buildings and five office buildings located in Broward and Palm counties. The combined occupancy is 85.7 percent. Once the remaining properties close, which is expected by the end of the first quarter, Duke will control more than 7 million square feet of real estate in South Florida and will be the largest owner of commercial/industrial space in Broward and Palm counties.
In the second deal, Duke sold five Class A office buildings to a joint venture between Nashville-based Smith/Hallemann Partners and Birmingham, Ala.-based Harbert Management Corporation. Two of the buildings are located at 312 Elm St. and 312 Plum St. in Cincinnati's central business district. They total 609,275 square feet and were 90 percent leased at the time of closing. The other three buildings are One, Two and Three Lakeview Place, which are located within the Century City Office Park near Nashville International Airport. They total 379,264 square feet and were approximately 73 percent leased at the time of closing. Tom Powers and Jim O'Connell of Cassidy Turley's Cincinnati office partnered with Pery Gooch and Crews Johnston of the firm's Nashville office to represent Duke in the sale.
Duke Realty Corp. currently owns more than 139 million square feet of industrial, office and medical office space in 18 major U.S. markets.
— Coleman Wood