WORLD PROPERTY CHANNEL ®

Hermen Rodriguez

NGP Fund V LLC, a private equity fund believed to be based in Washington, DC, has paid $95.1 million for a 196,915-square-foot, class A office building portfolio leased entirely to the federal General Services Administration, the largest landlord in the U.S.

The price paid to the seller, South Florida Federal Partners, equates to about $483 per square foot. The property has no debt.

The Miami office of Holliday Fenoglio Fowler, L.P.  closed the sale.

HFF managing director Hermen Rodriguez and director Ike Ojala led the investment sales team for the seller.

In a prepared statement, Rodriguez said NGP created a fund to acquire and hold office buildings fully occupied by the GSA.  The four buildings are among the first acquired by the newly created fund.

Ike Ojala

The buildings are fully occupied by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services under 15-year firm term leases.

In Miami-Dade County, the properties are located at 8801 NW 7th Avenue, SW 120th Street and 147th Avenue, Miami Gardens Drive and NW 59th Avenue.

The Broward County property is at NW 44th Street and 31st Avenue in Oakland Park.  

"Rarely do portfolios of this size and quality come to market in South Florida," said Rodriguez.

"This was an outstanding opportunity to acquire a portfolio with unrivaled investment-grade tenancy, long-term steady and reliable cash flow, state-of-the-art construction and strategic locations throughout the South Florida tri-county area."

In a separate move, the GSA is funding $4 billion in new green commercial projects.

The Washington Business Journal reports the GSA has awarded $4 billion in economic stimulus funds for construction projects to make federal buildings more energy-efficient.

According to the WBJ, more than 500 companies have received contracts for 391 projects funded by the GSA. The projects include retrofits of existing buildings, such as installing a solar roof on the Veterans Affairs building in Philadelphia, and construction of new buildings, such as a federal courthouse in Austin, Texas.

Martha Johnson

The agency wants its new buildings and major modernization projects to obtain at least a Silver certification in the U.S. Green Building Council's program for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED).

Because bids came in lower than expected for the projects, the agency was able to fund an additional $173 million in energy-saving measures at no extra cost to taxpayers, the WBJ reports.

"By creating a greener, higher-performing federal buildings portfolio, GSA's Recovery Act investments will save taxpayer dollars in energy efficiencies and build a more sustainable economy," said GSA Administrator Martha Johnson.

 

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