Neyer Properties has purchased the Centennial III office building, an 11 story downtown building located between the city’s historic Over-the-Rhine and the central business district.
The Class A office space and street retail building is located at 895 Central Avenue, between City Hall and I-75. The building is visible from the interstate, with an estimated 136,000 cars passing the site each day. The building is easily accessible from both the Seventh Street and Fifth Street interstate exits.
Centennial III, an 11-story building built in 1987, has 175,000 square feet of space. Centennial I and III were purchased using Auction.com, an online auction house on November 27, 2012. Neyer was the successful bidder on both buildings through Auction.com and had prearranged for an affiliate of Jedson Engineering, a Miami Township firm, to purchase Centennial I on the day of closing. Jedson has proposed bringing up to 300 jobs to Centennial I if they relocate their operations to this location in 2013. The previous owner was the New Boston Fund. Dan Neyer, president of Neyer Properties, did not disclose the purchase price.
“The buildings are very well-constructed and relatively new for downtown,” said Neyer. “We have looked at numerous other buildings downtown, and this project fell in our sweet spot from a risk and return standpoint. Since we already had an arrangement with Jedson to purchase Centennial I the time was right to execute on this transaction as our risk was greatly reduced.”
Centennial III at 895 Central Avenue is the current home for the U.S. Postal Service; Epilepsy Council of Greater Cincinnati; Key Bank; State of Ohio, TSC Apparel, and a few other tenants. About 70,000 square feet is available at Centennial III, including the top two floors.
Neyer plans to update the lobby in Centennial III and provide interior and exterior updates in early 2013.
The acquisition is Neyer Properties’ fifth major building acquisition this year, said Neyer, and there are several more in the company’s pipeline. Due to the success of these recent acquisitions Neyer is proceeding forward with raising $20 million of equity for their Neyer Properties Value-Add Fund III which will allow them to continue their appetite for high quality acquisitions, added Neyer.
The commercial real estate and development company is actively seeking acquisitions in greater Cincinnati as well as Columbus, Indianapolis, Louisville and Lexington. It seeks to purchase and redevelop another two million square feet over the next two years.