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Thomas Weber
Photo by Melanie Bell |
Dealmaker: Thomas Weber, president, Aquila Property Co. Inc.
Deal: Weber was among the principals of Preferred Coral Springs I LLC,
which sold the Preferred Exchange building in Coral Springs for $33.5
million to Cabot North University Drive LLC. The deal closed March 14.
Details: The seller, a joint venture of Preferred Realty Inc. and Aquila
Property Co. Inc., paid $14.3 million in 2000 for the
203,000-square-foot building at 3111 N. University Drive.
The 10-story building had fallen into disrepair and had numerous
vacancies. Weber and partner, Jordan Paul, invested about $1 million in
new carpeting and air conditioning, plus improvements to restrooms and
the building’s appearance.
When that was completed, the partners peppered the most expensive
residential communities in a 10-mile radius of the building with
postcards announcing the availability of office space.
“We were after the decision-makers” who would consider moving their
offices into the Preferred Exchange building to avoid long commutes,
Weber said.
Occupancy climbed from about 60 percent to more than 90 percent.
Weber has used the same tactic at the 47,000-square-foot Lakes Plaza and
75,000-square-foot Miami Lakes Corporate Center, both in Miami Lakes.
Lakes Plaza is expected to close late this month.
In late 2003, the partners refinanced the Coral Springs building for
about $23 million and had no intention of selling it. But offers began
streaming in. Finally, Cabot made one that was too good to pass up.
Known as a TIC (tenants-in-common) fund, Cabot signed a purchase
contract in early January. TIC funds allow groups of small investors to
avoid capital gains taxes on property sales through 1031 exchanges by
pooling their funds to buy far more expensive property than they could
as individuals. (A 1031 exchange rolls the sales proceeds of one deal
into another, similar property.)
Cabot, which has 29 individual investors, was represented by Chris Lee,
senior vice president of investment properties for CB Richard Ellis in
Miami.
Background: Weber is president of Aquila Property Co. Inc. in Coral
Springs.
Quote: “We started getting bigger and bigger offers, and we were turning
them down,” Weber said. “Finally, [the offers] hit a point with the …
buyer that we couldn’t ignore.”
— Terry Sheridan |
