As part of a national strategy to reduce its holdings in suburban office buildings, Malvern, Pa.-based Liberty Property Trust recently sold four office buildings in Brookfield, with a total of 338,424 square feet of space, for about $41 million, or about $121.15 per square foot.
“If you look at the commercial real estate market, the area that has been hardest hit (nationally) is the suburban office market,” said Neal Driscoll, vice president and manager of Liberty Property Trust’s Milwaukee operation. “The suburban office market has become largely commoditized.”
Nationally, downtown office buildings are performing better than suburban office buildings, Driscoll said.
“Suburban office tenants are more willing to relocate because their space is somewhat generic,” he said.
It was a good time to sell the Brookfield buildings becasue they are 94 percent occupied, Driscoll said.
The buildings include the two largest in the high profile Crossroads Corporate Center: an 86,521-square-foot building at 20700 Swenson Dr. and a 84,759-square-foot building at 20800 Swenson Dr., Town of Brookfield. Tenants in the Crossroads buildings include: RedPrairie Inc., The Schroeder Group, Wells Fargo Advisors, The Travelers Indemnity Company, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, Spring, Canon Business Solutions, Wisconsin Automobile Insurance Plan and the Wisconsin Compensation Rating Bureau.
The deal also included the 75,064-square-foot building at 245 S. Executive Dr., Brookfield; and a 92,080-square-foot building at 15800 W. Bluemound Road, Brookfield. Tenants in the 245 S. Executive Dr. building include State Farm Insurance and Ottawa University. Tenants in the Bluemound Road building include Millman Inc. and the Law Offices of Thomas Stilp.
The buildings were sold to Barrington, Ill.-based Fulcrum Asset Advisors LLC. Chicago-based Jones Lang LaSalle will manage the properties.
Liberty Property Trust also recently sold the 29,297-square-foot building occupied by the U.S. Defense Department at 11050 W. Liberty Blvd., on Milwaukee’s far northwest side, to Newton, Mass.-based Government Properties Income Trust.
