DRA Sells Fort Lauderdale’s Broward Financial Center for $112M, Reels in $61M in Financing

By Barbra Murray, Contributing Editor

DRA Advisors L.L.C. has sold Broward Financial Center in Fort Lauderdale to AGS Property Corp., and HFF did double duty on the $112 million deal. The commercial real estate services provider marketed the 324,400-square-foot office property on DRA’s behalf and secured $61 million in acquisition financing for AGS.

Investors took a shine to the South Florida asset, which sits at 500 E. Broward Blvd. in Fort Lauderdale’s central business district. “There was quite a bit of interest from both institutional and foreign investors,” Hermen Rodriguez, senior managing director with HFF, told Commercial Property Executive. The buyer, AGS, is a Brazil-based company. “There’s great bullishness [among investors] regarding the continued growth in rental rates in downtown Fort Lauderdale,” he added.

DRA had owned Broward Financial Center since 2005, when it joined forces with Colonial Properties Trust to acquire CRT Properties Inc. for $1.8 billion. Developed in 1986 and most recently renovated in 2007, the 24-story tower is presently 90 percent leased to a notable roster of tenants that includes Fox Sports Net Florida Inc., Premier Beverage Co., Sun-Sentinel Company and the Social Security Administration.

Once Rodriguez and his colleagues on HFF’s investment sales team had landed AGS as a buyer, HFF’s debt placement group went to work. The group orchestrated a 10-year, fixed-rate loan for AGS, provided by Morgan Stanley Mortgage Capital, Inc. with HFF as servicer of the securitized loan.