JCFA Ranch buys bank building

BUYER: JCFA Ranch, Bakersfield, Calif.
SELLER: Shops at Verandah Ltd.
PROPERTY: 11801 Palm Beach Blvd., Fort Myers
PRICE: $1.75 million
PREVIOUS PRICE: $3.71 million, December 2004
LAW FIRM ON DEED: Hill Ward Henderson, Tampa
PLANS, DESCRIPTION: A company, using the corporate identity of JCFA Ranch, with significant real estate holdings in California purchased a 6,245-square-foot bank building at the intersection of Palm Beach Boulevard and State Road 31 for 1.75 million. The purchase price equated to $280 per square foot of building space.

The key reason for that high price was the financial condition and position of the building's triple net tenant Wachovia, a Wells Fargo Co. Wachovia has a signed lease agreement on the property for next 16 years with 3% annual rental increases and several options to extend the lease. The four-year-old building is an outparcel in The Shops at Verandah, a Publix-anchored shopping center.

Ronald Schultz of Marcus & Millichap's Tampa office represented the seller, and Jeff Leggio of Grubb and Ellis ASU & Associates in Bakersfield, Calif., represented the buyer.