Cole Capital Buys Office Building for $15.5M; Local Investors Pick Up Shopping Center for $10.5M

By Eliza Theiss, Associate Editor

Cole Capital has recently heated up the Baton Rouge commercial real estate market with two significant purchases.

Most recently, Cole Corporate Income Trust (CCIT), a public, non-listed REIT investing in necessity corporate properties, has acquired the 125,000-square-foot American Tire Distributors facility, The Advocate reports. CCIT, a program of Cole Capital, purchased the office-warehouse property for $9.3 million from Indianapolis-based Scannell Properties, the asset’s developer.

According to the Greater Baton Rouge Business Report, the build-to-suit developer recently completed the asset. It features 4,700 square feet of offices, while the rest of the space is warehouse/industrial.  Scanell purchased the 12-acre site in May 2013 with the intent to develop a space for American Tire Distributors, whose previous 65,000-square-foot  location in a shared a building had grown inadequate.

Cole Capital also purchased the 65,000-square-foot CB&I office building at 2370 Towne Center Boulevard recently. According to The Advocate’s coverage, the Phoenix-based REIT bought the asset from seller Alsation Land Co. Baton Rouge, paying $15.5 million. NAI/Latter & Blum and Colliers International were involved in brokering the deal. The eponymous office building is fully let by CB&I on a long-term lease.

In further commercial news, the 140,000-square-foot Drusilla Shopping Center at Jefferson Highway and Drusilla Lane has been sold for $10.5 million, The Advocate reports. The shopping center was purchased by a group of investors led by Donnie Jarreau from Garry Lewis, who had owned the asset since 1999.  The new owners are set to spend $2 million on renovations and upgrades. The property will also be renamed Drusilla Village with multiple new tenants lined up for the currently 90 percent occupied retail center. Donnie Jarreau Real estate brokered the deal.

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