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 PRESS
RELEASE
October 15, 2004
Aquila Property Company
Buys 190,000sf Office Park in Palm Beach County near
proposed Scripps Village site.
Aquila Property Company, Inc., a South
Florida based company that specializes in acquiring and upgrading
suburban office buildings has completed the purchase of another Florida
property. Aquila’s newest investment which will be called the
Innovation Business Park is a 190,000 square foot campus style office
park located at the Northwest corner of Beeline Hwy. and Innovation
Drive, approximately 2 miles from the proposed Scripps Village site in
the Northwest section of Palm Beach County.
The Innovation Business Park offers
outstanding access directly off of the Beeline highway less than ten
miles from the Florida Turnpike placing it within a 20 minute drive from
Jupiter, Palm Beach Gardens, West Palm Beach and Delray. The 16 acre
self-contained campus style facility sits adjacent to a 17 acre lake
that provides its tenants with waterfront views and includes a 450 seat
gourmet cafeteria, a daycare center, fitness facility and a 400 seat AV
presentation room. The property offers 75,000 square feet of contiguous
space available for rent, and is the only office building with space
ready to go that is located within two miles of the proposed Scripps
Village Site which is expected to begin construction in early 2005. The
Scripps Village is a 2,000 acre mixed use development that will serve as
the Eastern Regional headquarters for the internationally acclaimed
Scripps Institute. Scripps is the largest non-profit biomedical
research institute in the world. The movement of Scripps to Northern
Palm Beach County has been described by Florida Governor Jeb Bush as the
“Largest Economic Development in Florida since Disney World”.
Aquila purchased the property from The
Weiss Group, a nationally recognized group of companies that includes
firms dedicated to publishing, financial ratings and money
management. The Weiss Group will keep its corporate headquarters at the
property under a long-term lease for 50% of the office space.
Ben DeVries, President of DeVries Real
Estate Counselors, Inc. handled the sale of the property for The Weiss
Group. The local attorneys in this transaction are Norman Weil at
Fowler White for Aquila and Steve Cohn at Holland & Knight for the Weiss
Group.
Tom Weber, President of Aquila Property
Company stated “Anyone who has followed economic development in South
Florida over the last several years is aware of the exceptional growth
that has taken place in the Northwestern part of Palm Beach County. The
Scripps Institute’s decision to place its eastern regional headquarters
in this area further solidifies the economic base of one of the most
exciting growth areas in the United States. The Innovation Business
Park is ideally located and offers outstanding on site amenities that
will be attractive to a variety of large users. We are very excited
about the potential of this project and look forward to continuing to
grow our portfolio in this area.”
Aquila was founded by Tom Weber and Jordan
Paul in 2001. Over the past three years it has built a steady track
record acquiring and turning around well located suburban office
buildings. Aquila has taken its portfolio from an original occupancy
rate of under 70% to over 90% by applying a hands on management approach
to upgrade its properties and attract quality credit tenants. With its
latest acquisition, Aquila’s investment portfolio now includes over
500,000 square feet of office buildings in Palm Beach, Broward and
Miami/Dade Counties.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
TOM WEBER
Office: (954) 340-1722
Website:
www.aquilaproperty.com
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