Grover Corlew Buys Discounted Fort Lauderdale Office Tower for $69.7M

Grover Corlew is paying $69.7 million for a Fort Lauderdale office tower that last traded for $81.5 million in 2017, a discount of roughly 15 percent that marks one of the steeper office markdowns in downtown Broward this year.

The Boca Raton based developer, led by principals Mark Corlew and Anuj Grover, closed on 200 East Broward Boulevard, buying it from Banyan Street Capital and Oaktree Capital Management. The Real Deal reported BridgeInvest supplied a $63.4 million loan to finance the purchase. JLL’s Hermen Rodriguez and Ike Ojala represented the deal.

Why it matters

The sale is a marker for where downtown Fort Lauderdale office values sit after years of rate pressure and softening demand for older towers. A seller taking a double digit loss on a trophy address, three blocks from the courthouse and transit, signals that even well located assets are repricing to find buyers. For South Florida’s office sector, it is a data point other owners holding 1990s era towers will watch closely when they go to refinance or sell.

The numbers

The property at 200 East Broward Boulevard is a 21 story, 447,253 square foot tower built in 1991, with roughly 235,000 square feet of office space currently about 75 percent occupied. Grover Corlew’s $69.7 million price works out to a steep discount from the $81.5 million Banyan Street and Oaktree paid in 2017, before office values across the region came under pressure. The buyer has lined up $63.4 million in acquisition financing from BridgeInvest.

What’s next

Grover Corlew plans to put roughly $20 million into the building over the next two years, adding an amenity deck with a gym and conference facilities aimed at pulling occupancy higher. The firm is betting that a discounted basis plus fresh amenities can compete for tenants against newer downtown product. The deal adds to a string of South Florida office trades priced well below their prior sale, a trend worth tracking across South Florida as more distressed-era buildings change hands.