Federal Capital Partners Buys 240 KSF Durham Office Building in NC

By Barbra Murray, Contributing Editor 

Federal Capital Partners has acquired Erwin Square Plaza, a 238,800-square-foot office and retail building in downtown Durham, N.C. The real estate investment company purchased the Class A property from National Asset Services Inc. in a $37.5 million transaction. 

Commercial real estate services firm CBRE Group Inc. orchestrated the sale on behalf of NAS.

Erwin Square sprouted up on a 7.5-acre parcel at 2200 W. Main St., in 1990. The 10-story building encompasses approximately 215,000 square feet of office space accented by 23,800 of retail space in wings on either side. FCP plans to invest in capital improvements to reposition the retail segment and, as Esko Korhonen, managing partner at FCP, noted in a prepared statement, bring the property “back to its institutional-grade potential.” 

Facelift or not, Erwin Square Plaza has long been a coveted office destination in downtown Durham. The property’s occupancy level has held strong over the last several years, hovering in the mid- to upper-90 percent range, even during the Great Recession. Today, the building is 96.2 percent occupied, with a roster featuring the likes of Duke University, Princeton Review, UBS Financial Services and other creditworthy tenants. 

FCP has a strong presence in the Triangle area, having provided financing or holding an interest in an additional 350,000 square feet of commercial space and nearly 2,000 apartment units. However, FCP does not have tunnel vision; the company casts a wide net when hunting for transactions. 

“Besides the Triangle area, FCP continues to look at acquisition opportunities in all sectors–commercial, residential, manufactured housing–throughout the Mid-Atlantic region, including Washington, D.C., and its suburbs, Philadelphia and other areas of the Carolinas such as Charlotte,” Korhonen told Commercial Property Executive. “Within those markets, we can invest outright, provide structured debt or venture with a strong local partner.” In May, the company, along with Cross Properties and Alterra Property Group, commenced the historic renovation and transformation of Philadelphia’s 1616 Walnut St. property into a 206-unit luxury apartment community.  Earlier this year, FCP closed a $10 million mezzanine loan for the $52 million development of a 240-unit apartment community in Alexandria, Va., just outside of Washington, D.C.