By Kirk Pinho
Crain’s Detroit Business
Travelers Towers I and II at 26555 and 26533 Evergreen Road in Southfield have sold to New York City-based real estate firm Time Equities Inc.
The Southfield and New York offices of Newmark Grubb Knight Frank’s Capital Markets Group secured the listing for and marketed the 790,000-square-foot Class A office complex from Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., according to a news release.
The sale price on the deal, which closed Thursday, was not disclosed.
Francis Greenburger, chairman of Time Equities, declined to say how much his company paid for it.
“This is a gateway event signaling that out-of-town capital is once again interested in Detroit,” stated Larry Emmons, a senior managing director for NGKF in Southfield. “We took the buildings to market right around Thanksgiving and received nine offers within weeks.”
Emmons, along with Senior Managing Director Patrick Shannon of the Capital Markets Group in Southfield; Daniel Canvasser, a senior managing director in office leasing and sales for NGKF; and Fred Liesveld, managing director of NGKF’s Southfield office, executed the deal locally.
Canvasser said in the news release that Lehman invested more than $10 million in the complex since taking over the property in 2010. He also said the properties will increase in occupancy as the office real estate market recovers.
Greenburger said Time Equities has a budget of more than $10 million to make improvements to the towers. He also expects some outparcel space to be developed as a restaurant.
The main tenants in the Travelers Towers buildings are Faurecia North America Inc., Fox Sports,R.L. Polk & Co. and Action Benefits.
Time Equities’ portfolio consists of 22.1 million square feet of residential, industrial, office and retail space in 25 states, four Canadian provinces and Germany.
Article source: http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20130503/NEWS/130509955/new-york-firm-buys-travelers-towers-in-southfield-plans-10m-in
