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The Hachems buy office building
BUYER: Ashley 601 Inc. (principals: Sam and Laurice Hachem), Tampa
SELLER: Urban Renewal LLC
PROPERTY: 601 N. Ashley Drive aka 100 E. Twiggs St., Tampa
PRICE: $4.1 million
PREVIOUS PRICE: $7 million, July 2005
TILE FIRM ON DEED: Fidelity National Title, Tampa
PLANS, DESCRIPTION: Ashley 601 Inc., a company headed by Tampa investors Sam and Laurice Hachem, purchased the 55,000-square-foot historic office building on Ashley Drive north of Kennedy Boulevard for $4.1 million.
The purchase price equated to $75 per square foot of building space. The 12-story building was 50% occupied at the time of the sale.
“We have been looking at it over the past year; the sellers just finally agreed,” Laurice Hachem says. “We will be moving our offices over their to the eighth floor. We are negotiating with another company to take three floors. That would leave us with two floors available.”
The former owner, Novare Group and Intowngroup's joint venture Novare-Intown Tampa Development Co. LLC, planned to demolish the building to develop a high-rise apartment complex or condominium community. The slowdown in the residential market eventually ended that project.
“They put the burden on the leasing broker to only lease to companies they could move out of the building on short notice,” Hachem says. “It was almost impossible to find a tenant like that.”
Along with performing differed maintenance, the new ownership plans to improve the parking lot, paint the exterior of the building and install a new video security system.
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