580 Building Sold at Sheriff’s Auction

By Adrian Maties, Associate Editor

The 580 Building, one of downtown Cincinnati’s largest office buildings, was sold on March 1 for $16 million at a sheriff’s auction. The building at 580 Walnut St. was the former home of the Great American Insurance Co. and has been in foreclosure since last spring.

Construction on the 17-story tower ended in 1973. Its unique ”Z-shaped” design splits its 30,000-square-foot floors into two 15,000-square-foot spaces. The 580 Building is a 550,000-square-foot, Class-A office building located in the heart of the central business district, on the south side of Sixth Street, between Walnut and Main streets.

One of the building’s strong points is its location, providing easy access to downtown retail, hotels and restaurants. It is close to The Aronoff Center for the Arts, the Backstage Entertainment District, Fountain Square, Fifth Third Bank’s headquarters and Procter & Gamble’s world headquarters.

The complex also includes a five–level, 409-space underground garage. An additional surface parking lot is available two blocks north. The building is also connected to the Skywalk system. Philadelphia-based Berwind Prop­er­ties Group (BPG) acquired it for $24.7 million in 2003 and spent $12 million to ren­ovate the twin towers.  

When the Great American Insurance Co., the building’s anchor tenant, left last year, moving to the new Great American Tower, the vacancy rate in the building jumped, rising from 21 percent in 2010 to 73 percent in 2011. Fifth Third Bank is now the only major tenant. The owner, 580 Investors L.L.C., an affiliate of BPG, failed to make the final installment payment on the note, due Jan. 1, and  MML RE Finance L.L.C., the lender, filed a foreclosure lawsuit.

Connecticut-based MML RE Finance L.L.C. was the winning bidder. The $16 million bid was the minimum acceptable at the sheriff’s auction. It represents two-thirds of the property’s $24 million appraised value.

Image courtesy of Google Maps.