'Largest office building sale in Florida since 2012' closes in downtown Tampa
By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Dec 18, 2015

CBRE Group Inc. has confirmed the sale of Bank of America Plaza in downtown Tampa.

The buyer is a joint venture between Miami-based Banyan Street Capital and Los Angeles-based Oaktree Capital Management, as Private Equity Real Estate News reported last week.

PERE had pegged the sales price at $195 million or $250 per square foot. CBRE did not disclose a price, and the deed for the transaction has not yet been filed in Hillsborough County.

CBRE, which represented the seller in the transaction, says the deal "represents the largest office building sale in Florida since 2012," which is likely referring to the aggregate sales price rather than the price per square foot. Another downtown Tampa office tower, 100 North Tampa, sold for $275 per square foot in 2007.

The seller, MetLife Real Estate Investments, has owned the building since it was developed in 1986.

"This represents the seventh significant office building to trade in the last 18 months in the downtown Tampa submarket. Investor demand is being fueled by the prospects for significant future office rental rate growth,” Dale Peterson, a Tampa-based CBRE executive, said in a statement. "Downtown Tampa has a very impressive growth story to tell and we will see continued residential and employment growth.”

In the last year and a half, CBRE has handled the sale of several premier downtown Tampa office towers, including Rivergate Tower ($70 million), Wells Fargo Plaza ($78 million) and Fifth Third Center ($47 million).

Ashley Gurbal Kritzer is a reporter for the Tampa Bay Business Journal.