KBS has sold SouthTech Business Center, a 260,112-square-foot light industrial property in Austin, Texas. A 1031 investor represented by MIG Real Estate purchased the four-building campus. JLL brokered the deal, and Greenberg Traurig served as legal counsel for the seller.
California Bank & Trust, a unit of Zions Bancorporation, provided a $34.5 million loan to acquire the Class A property, according to Travis County records.
KBS purchased South Tech Business Center in 2005 for $18.6 million, according to CommercialEdge data. The campus, which was completed in 2002, consists of four buildings spread across approximately 20 acres. Each building has a 21-foot height, a 145-foot-long track court, and air-conditioned warehouse space. The facility also has approximately 744 surface parking spaces.
Since the acquisition, KBS has invested in facilities in each tenant area, which has increased the average tenant tenancy to more than five years, according to Brett Mertz, senior vice president of operations. South Tech Business Center was 93 percent leased at the time of the sale.
Also see: Q&A: Expanding Flexwarehousing Solutions
The facility's tenant roster includes Collective Home, the U.S. General Services Administration, Republic National Distributing, Movair and MedtoMarket. Over the past decade, SouthTech Business Center has had an average annual occupancy rate of 97 percent.
JLL Senior Managing Director Trent Agnew, Senior Director Charles Strauss, Director Lance Young and Analyst Brooke Petzold represented the seller. The Greenberg Traurig team included attorneys Bruce Fisher, Howard Chew and Tina Ross and paralegal Amanda Kennedy.
Austin industrial market sets new record
SouthTech Business Center is located at 2101 E. Street Elmo Road in an Opportunity Zone in Southeast Austin. The facility is near Austin-Bergstrom International Airport and the intersection of Interstate 35 and Route 71, making it easily accessible by metro.
Austin's industrial market completed 3.2 million square feet of construction in the first three months of the year, a quarterly record for speculative space and the second consecutive quarter of delivery exceeding 3 million square feet, according to a recent JLL report. About 21.4% of the total space delivered was leased upon completion.