RealOp Investments paid $110.1 million for three office buildings at the Waterford Business District near Miami International Airport.
The Greenville, South Carolina-based commercial real estate investor bought the Waterford Atrium complex at 6100, 6303 and 6505 Blue Lagoon Drive in two deals from different affiliates of MetLife, records show.
RealOp secured a $93.9 million acquisition loan from Forethought Life Insurance Company, according to a mortgage.
Waterford Atrium, built in the early 1990s, totals 498,073 square feet of office space, according to property records. It’s 71 percent leased, with tenants including the Discovery entertainment company and L’Oréal.
New York-based MetLife bought the four-story buildings in 2006 for $97.5 million, according to a deed.
RealOp, founded in 2009 and led by Reggie Bell, focuses on adding value to commercial real estate in part through capital improvements, according to its website. Its portfolio spans 6.6 million square feet, valued at $650 million.
Its newly added Waterford Atrium is on the northern edge of the Waterford Business District, which spans 250 acres in unincorporated Miami-Dade and south of the airport.
Nuveen Real Estate and Allianz Real Estate own 60 percent of the 3 million-square-foot business park. They recently completed $20 million of renovations, including additions meant to appeal to millennials such as yoga classes and bike sharing. They also rebranded the district from its previous name, Waterford at Blue Lagoon.
Nuveen, which has owned the business district for roughly 30 years, developed most of the Class A offices, and in recent years sold the Class B product, said Juan Ruiz, of Blanca Commercial Real Estate.
Tenants in the Nuveen-Allianz portion of the business district include headquarters for Burger King and Popeyes, a FedEx office and Sony’s Latin American headquarters, according to Ruiz.
The district continues to attract tenants, as Subway signed a 64,256-square-foot lease in April. .
Overall, Miami-Dade’s office market has been bolstered by finance and tech firms seeking to move here. Blanca Commercial Real Estate CEO Tere Blanca said there could be 1.5 million square feet of new-to-market relocations this year.