Crocker, Westcity buy $44M One Financial Plaza

FORT LAUDERDALE – A joint venture of Crocker Partners and Westcity Realty has acquired downtown Fort Lauderdale’s One Financial Plaza, a 236,000sf Class A office tower plus two contiguous development sites, for $44 million.

Crocker Partners will be responsible for asset management, with Westcity Realty providing on-site management.

“We’ve had a long-standing relationship with Westcity Partners’ principals Ken Simigran and Stephen Douglas and are pleased to now have them as our partners,” said Thomas Brockwell, partner in Crocker Partners.

The 28-story One Financial Plaza tower is Crocker’s second holding in Fort Lauderdale’s Central Business District. The company has owned an adjacent 1.5-acre parcel at 200 S.E. 2nd St. since 2005.

One Financial Plaza is Crocker’s second trophy property acquisition this year. In January, Crocker acquired Lakes On Post Oaks, a 1.2 msf complex in Houston’s Galleria submarket, in a joint venture with Five Mile Partners.

“One Financial Plaza is consistent with our long-term strategy of buying high-quality assets in thriving major metro markets and adding value through asset and property management. It is reflective of the growing pipeline of opportunities we see in today’s market as we actively pursue acquisitions throughout the Southeast, Texas and metro Washington, D.C.,” said Thomas J. Crocker, managing partner.

One Financial Plaza, home to the Tower Club, sits on 4.02 acres at 100 S.E. Third Ave., with frontage on Broward Boulevard. Anchored by Regions Bank, the building is approximately 80% leased.

After a significant increase in commercial real estate values, Crocker sold a 137‑building portfolio of office buildings located throughout the Southeast and Texas for $1.8 billion in 2005. In 2007, the principals raised a private equity fund that targets value-add office investments throughout the southeastern United States.

In all, Boca Raton-based Crocker Partners’ principals have owned and managed more than 29 msf, developed over 2 msf of Class A office space, and invested over $2 billion in the Southeast and Texas including major markets such as Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, South Florida and suburban Washington, D.C.

Fort Lauderdale-based Westcity Realty is a real estate investment group whose partners draw on their institutional training, with a strategic focus on investment-grade assets.

The 28-story One Financial Plaza tower is Crocker’s second holding in Fort Lauderdale’s Central Business District.

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