Israeli investment firm pays $28.2M for Maitland Lakes office building

For the second time in two months, an office building in Maitland Center has traded hands.

Brightman & Gil, which has offices in Tel Aviv and metro Atlanta, bought the 4-story office building – it’s first in the Orlando market. B&G paid $28.19 million for the building known as Maitland Lakes at 851 Trafalgar Ct.

Built in 1984, the building is highlighted by its large glass atrium, offices with lake views, an on-site cafe and ample covered parking. The buyer sourced an $18.625 million loan from RGA Reinsurance Company.

“It’s a great building with a great location,” Micah Strader said. Strader, with JLL, will continue to be the leasing agent for the new owner.

CBRE’s Ron Rogg and Chip Wooten represented the seller, Crocker Partners.

The transaction was almost six years to the day Crocker bought the property and netted the firm a 90-percent return on its initial $14.85 million investment.

“We repositioned Maitland Lakes through a combination of amenities and cosmetic improvements that were well-received by our tenants. They in turn renewed their commitment to us, making it the right time to sell this stabilized asset given the strong Orlando fundamentals and interest from the capital markets,” CP Managing Partner Angelo Bianco told GrowthSpotter. “Our team’s hands-on, consistent approach in implementing our value-add business plan produced a home-run result.”

During their six-year hold, Crocker increased occupancy to over 91 percent, leaving the new buyers with a high credit tenant mix, such as Wiley and Sprint, with an average lease term in excess of 5 years. Building improvements included modernization of elevators, renovated lobbies, corridors and restrooms, and a complete redesign of the café.

This is the second Orlando-area office asset Crocker Partners has sold in the last year, having divested of a five-building portfolio in the Quadrangle Business Park last June for over $67 million. The largest office landlord in the state, Crocker paid $50.4 million in January for the Resource Square I and III office buildings near UCF.

Josh Edwards, Senior Vice President at Crocker, who oversees the North and Central Florida markets, led these recent transactions.

The Maitland Center submarket consists of more than six million square feet of suburban office space and is home to satellite offices for a number of the region’s largest employers, including Adventist Health System, Abbott Laboratories Inc. and Spectrum.

Last December an affiliate of Cleveland-based investment firm Boyd Watterson paid $12.4 million to acquire a Maitland office building being retrofitted for the Orlando office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The investment firm acquired the property at 480 S. Keller Rd. through its GSA strategy fund, which focuses on government-leased real estate assets.

TerraCap Management acquired the building at 850 Trafalgar Ct., next to Maitland Lakes, in 2019 for $13.8 million.

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