Bank Of America Plaza Acquired By Atlanta's Most Active Office Investor
A Florida real estate firm has acquired the tallest office tower in the Southeast, the latest in its Atlanta real estate shopping spree.
CP Group, in a joint venture with HPS Investment Partners, purchased Bank of America Plaza — the 55-story, 1.35M SF skyscraper on the border of Midtown and Downtown Atlanta — from Shorenstein Properties. The price of the acquisition was undisclosed, and the transaction has yet to appear in property records.
Shorenstein purchased the 1,023-foot tower, one of the tallest buildings in the country, from special servicer CW Capital in 2016 for more than $220M. It was appraised at nearly $277M last year, up from $207M in 2020, according to Fulton County Board of Assessors data.
Bank of America Plaza is leased to tenants including Bank of America and law firm Troutman Pepper, and CP Group is planning to spend $50M on capital improvements, including a lobby overhaul, a high-end restaurant, and 100K SF of pre-built, flexible offices through the landlord's worCPlaces brand, which it launched last year.
“This asset stands to benefit from the exponential growth in economic development and corporate relocations to Atlanta, and more specifically Midtown,” CP Group partner Chris Eachus said in a press release.
CBRE Vice Chairman Will Yowell, Executive Vice Presidents Jay O'Meara and Justin Parsonnet and Vice President Ryan Reethof brokered the sale for Shorenstein, according to a press release, and CBRE will continue to lease the building.
While it is most famous for its height, Bank of America Plaza was also the poster child for the real estate meltdown in the Great Financial Crisis. At the time, CW Capital foreclosed on the tower's previous owner, BentleyForbes, acquiring the property for $235M, compared to the $400M-plus BentleyForbes paid for the tower in 2006.
Formerly known as Crocker Partners, CP Group has been on an acquisition tear in Metro Atlanta since last year. It purchased One and Two Ravinia Drive in Central Perimeter and One Overton Park for $219.5M in March of last year, and it then bought the iconic CNN Center in Downtown Atlanta in July for nearly $145M in a partnership with Rialto Capital Management.
Just last month, CP Group, in a joint venture with Cohen & Steers Capital Management, purchased the two-building, 169K SF Buckhead Centre property in Buckhead Village from The Simpson Organization for an undisclosed price. Simpson purchased the property in 2016 for $25.8M.
CP Group said in a statement that Bank of America Plaza is part of an acquisition strategy of buying “undervalued, best-in-class office assets in dynamic urban markets spanning the Southeast and Southwest.”
Last year, the firm acquired 5M SF in office properties, including Granit Tower in Denver and the 567K SF 5POP tower in Houston.
