The Bank of America sold its Hunt Valley building as part of $153 million deal involving properties in three states.
Inland Real Estate Corp. of Oak Brook, Ill., acquired the buildings, which comprise a total of 839,808 square feet of space in Hunt Valley, Las Vegas, Moosic, Pa., and Rio Rancho, N.M. Matthew Tramel, a spokesman for Inland, declined to provide specific addresses for the properties but said ‘‘you can probably guess.”
Bank of America has only a bank branch and its 330,802-square-foot credit card services building in Hunt Valley. The property, at 11333 McCormick Road, was acquired when the bank bought out credit card giant MBNA Corp. for $35 billion in 2005.
A Bank of America spokeswoman, Nicole Nastacie, confirmed the address.
‘‘Selling the building enables Bank of America to generate cost savings by reducing annual occupancy expense, and it frees capital that will allow us to continue to reinvest in our businesses,” she said.
Tramel declined to provide any information about the specific valuation of the Hunt Valley building, but its current state assessment is $40.5 million.
The deal was a sale-leaseback transaction with Bank of America. Inland contributed $60.8 million to the venture, with an aggregate purchase price of $152.6 million. The company financed its contribution with a five-year, interest-only 5.6 percent fixed rate bank loan of $90.3 million, as well as a draw on an existing $155 million line of credit and cash on hand.
Bio fund buys failedoffice condo for $8.8M
The Greater Washington Life Sciences Fund reported closing on its first acquisition, a failed 53,000-square-foot office condominium project in Gaithersburg, which it bought from the developer’s lender for $8.8 million.
The two-story flex building property, at 21 Firstfield Road, was converted to condos last year by Brownstone Capital of Bethesda, but the project’s lender, Fortress Investment Group of New York, bought the property in lieu of foreclosure for $10.9 million in April.
The life sciences fund, a new $100 million joint venture between JBG Cos. of Chevy Chase and Scheer Partners of Rockville, plans to restructure the two buildings as lab space. Brownstone had not sold any condo units, said Mike Norris, a Scheer asset manager.
The property was built in 1979 and was once home to the nonprofit Institute for In Vitro Sciences, which moved to another location. The building is in the heart of the Gaithersburg life sciences market, which includes Genvec, MedImmune and others.
‘‘21 Firstfield will be the only significant block of Class A lab space available in the Gaithersburg market, which has the second highest concentration of life sciences companies in the state,” said Matt Brady, vice president of Scheer Partners and the senior agent marketing the project. Scheer will handle leasing and managing the building.
‘‘We are pleased to have uncovered and negotiated this opportunity” for the life sciences fund, Robert Scheer, founder and president of Scheer Partners, said in a statement. ‘‘We look forward to renovating the building and creating new Class A lab space in one of the region’s premier life sciences clusters.”
Lanham warehousefetches $9.7 million
A 54,962-square-foot flex building in Lanham sold for $9.7 million, according to Transwestern’s Bethesda office, which represented BRIT LP in the sale.
The single-story property, at 4260 Forbes Blvd., was built in 2001 and features 16-foot clear heights and 10 exterior loading docks. The property was fully leased upon sale, including credit tenant Northrop Grumman, which occupies nearly 40 percent of the space.
Andy Stape, Joe Friedman and Mat Adler of Transwestern’s Asset Investment Sales Group brokered the sale.
Fitzgerald to break groundon LEED dealership
Fitzgerald Auto Malls of Gaithersburg is going green with its auto dealerships, including one set for a groundbreaking Monday in Germantown.
The new dealership will be certified by the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program, according to Fitzgerald information, with its design, construction and operation consistent with high-performance green buildings. The building is to be complete early next year and is to be the first Toyota LEED-Certified dealership east of the Mississippi River.
Commercial real estate news items may be mailed to: Steve Monroe, The Business Gazette, 9030 Comprint Court, Gaithersburg, MD 20877; e-mailed to smonroe@gazette.net; or faxed to 301-670-7183.