Each year, The Birmingham Business Journal unveils their CRE Deals of the Year. We are excited to announce that the Inverness Center North Sale has been named as one of the top deals for 2022! Congratulations to Harbert Realty’s Executive VP West Harris for his dedication to this sale!
ABOUT THE SALE:
Harbert Realty Services, Executive Vice President, West Harris has completed the purchase and sale of Inverness Center North located in the heart of Highway 280/I-459 submarket with In-Rel Properties out of Florida. In-Rel currently owns an office Building in Riverchase, and Inverness Center North is a significant addition to the Owner’s portfolio.
Inverness Center North is comprised of three Class A office buildings measuring 450,000 square feet total with each building measuring approximately 150,000 square feet. One of the most attractive features of Inverness Center North is the lush, natural lake setting the park provides tenants and visitors. Buildings 40, 42 & 44 were originally designed as a build-to-suit for Southern Company Services in 1985. Southern Company Services occupied the buildings until moving to the Colonnade at the beginning of 2019. Fidelity information Services (FIS) back-filled Building 44 immediately after Southern Company moved. Currently Buildings 42 & 44 are vacant, but In-Rel is purchasing the assets at a time when the market is very active.
The Highway 280/I-459 market for Class A and Class B buildings is 5.5MM square feet as of June 30, is 81.45% leased, maintains and average rate of $22.19 per square foot and has positive absorption of 77,000 square feet for the first part of 2022. The concentration of big blocks of space is located in the Inverness area but these blocks present both the new Owner and City of Hoover/Shelby County great opportunities to recruit white collar business and jobs to the area.
In-Rel Properties timing is excellent, and the new Owner is in a unique position to take advantage of the increase demand for office space in the submarket. The submarket vacancy also presents an opportunity for tenants to lock in arguably lower effective rental rates on long term leases of 7 to 10 years. Harris said, “the Owners who will be most successful are the ones who have a deliberate business plan to reposition properties like Inverness Center and execute on the plan before lease commitments. Due to construction timelines today, landlords and tenants must make decision far in advance of target lease commencement dates.” The new Owner plans to capitalize on the increased activity in the market and tenant demand for more open clean work environments in environmentally friendly settings.