Lingerfelt CommonWealth Nabs SC Office Towers

By Laura Calugar

One Liberty Square in Greenville, S.C.

Greenville, S.C.—Lingerfelt CommonWealth Partners LLC recently announced the acquisition of One Liberty Square and Two Liberty Square, a pair of office towers in downtown Greenville, S.C. The company will manage the assets via its vertically integrated operating platform. Commonwealth Commercial Partners, the firm’s property management affiliate, will handle the property management. CBRE will continue to handle the leasing and marketing. The two properties traded for an undisclosed amount.

Located at 55 and 77 Beattie Place, the Liberty Square towers are in the heart of Greenville’s business district. One Liberty Square and Two Liberty Square were built in 1983 and 1986, respectively, and received extensive multimillion-dollar renovations in 2006 and 2014. The buildings total 445,612 square feet and are currently 81 percent occupied by anchor tenant Resurgent Capital, as well as Shellpoint Mortgage Servicing, Gallivan, White & Boyd, Dority & Manning and Commerce Club, among others.

Two Liberty Square in Greenville, S.C.

According to Yardi Matrix data, One Liberty Square and Two Liberty Square are both 17-story buildings with 522 parking spaces each and fitness centers. Both properties are subject to a 25-year unsubordinated net ground lease held by the City of Greenville, expiring in January 2030. The two towers last sold in 2013 for a combined total of approximately $38 million to HighBrook.

“Greenville continues to show strengthening fundamentals, particularly downtown, which has experienced seven consecutive years of positive net absorption, strong rental rate growth and low vacancy rates,” said Ryan Lingerfelt, president & CIO of Lingerfelt CommonWealth, in prepared remarks. “We have been evaluating Greenville and the greater Upstate area for several years. The occupancy rate of the towers is expected to drop to approximately 70 percent after a larger tenant vacates nearly 50,000 square feet, thereby allowing us the unique opportunity to go to market offering some of the largest and most attractive blocks of space in downtown Greenville where vacancy rates continue to decline and new supply is limited.”

Images courtesy of Yardi Matrix