|
Aquila
Property Company Announces Sale of Landmark Coral Springs Property
Value enhancement program doubles property
value in just over 3 years.
(Coral
Springs, FL – March 14, 2005) Aquila Property Company, Inc. announced today
that its affiliate, Preferred Coral Springs I LLC has completed the sale of
the Preferred Exchange Tower, a 10 story, 203,000 sf office building located
near the intersection of University Drive and Sample Road in Coral Springs,
Florida for $33.5 million.
The principals of Aquila (Tom Weber and Jordan Paul) acquired the property
in a joint venture with Thomas Speno of Preferred Realty, Inc, in September
of 2000 for $15.6 million. The property was purchased from an out of town
owner, who had allowed the tallest building in Coral Springs to fall into
disrepair with an occupancy level of just over 70%. A landmark property
that should have been the pride of one of Broward County’s premier
communities was at the time becoming an embarrassing eyesore.
Aquila immediately implemented a “hands on” management and leasing program
that included over $2 million of capital investment to upgrade the
building. The modernization program attracted numerous national credit and
prominent regional tenants including RMS Equico, a wholly owned subsidiary
of H&R Block, Community Bank of Broward, the Barbazon International School
of Modeling and the Onyx Restaurant. This combined with the retention and
expansion of several existing prominent tenants including Salomon Smith
Barney, Unisys, the Florida Department of Revenue and the law firm of Norych
and Tallis to increase occupancy to over 90% within 2 years of Aquila and
Preferred’s acquisition of the property. As a result, the property was the
recipient of the Coral Springs INDY 2003 Commitment of Excellence Award and
was nominated for the NAIOP South Florida 2002 Renovation of the Year.
Rhon Ernest-Jones, the Mayor of Coral Springs stated, “Tom Weber and his
partners at the Preferred Exchange Tower did a phenomenal job in turning
this building into a true community asset. The improvements at the
Preferred Exchange Tower have not only brought new high paying jobs and
businesses to Coral Springs, but they have created a new public space out of
a former community eyesore. The property has been used for a number of
Community functions including the Chamber of Commerce, food drives for the
needy, the annual dog park fund raising dinner, community blood drives and
special training by the Coral Springs Fire Department.”
Tom Weber, current Chair of the Coral Springs CEO group, founded Aquila
Property Company, in 2000 with Jordan Paul to acquire and turn around
under-performing Florida properties. Aquila formed ventures with both
institutional and local partners and provides its clients with
entrepreneurial vision and institutional quality property management,
construction management, development, leasing, due diligence, valuation and
financial consulting services. By applying a hands on approach to
upgrading its properties and attracting quality credit tenants Aquila has
built a consistent track record of turning around well located
underperforming buildings, taking its portfolio from an original occupancy
rate of under 70% to over 90%. Since its founding Aquila has acquired over
500,000 square feet of office projects in Palm Beach, Dade and Broward
Counties including the Innovation Business Park, a 190,000 square foot
office and research park located within 2 miles of the planned Scripps
Development in Northwest Palm Beach County.
Tom Weber,
President and CEO stated “We are very pleased to “complete the cycle” with
the recent sale of the Preferred Exchange Tower and to further have the
opportunity to remain involved with the building and the City of Coral
Springs as we continue on in a management and leasing role at this
outstanding project. We are very pleased that our efforts have delivered
outstanding results for our investors and look forward to continuing to
build value for our partners on our projects going forward.”
Additional Information on
Aquila Property Company and its properties is available at its website –
www.aquilaproperty.com
Contact:
Thomas P. Weber, President
Aquila Property Company, Inc.
954-340-1722
tweber@aquilaproperty.com
# # #
|
