North-side office buildings sell for $25 million

Two northeast-side office buildings that fell into foreclosure four years ago while owned by a prominent local developer have sold.

Cincinnati-based Neyer Properties announced earlier this month that it has purchased Woodfield Crossing II and Woodfield Crossing III. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

But local office brokers say the buildings fetched about $25 million after attracting strong interest from potential buyers.

The two Class A buildings total 348,000 square feet. Woodfield II is 65-percent occupied and Woodfield III just 32 percent.

Space available in Woodfield III is as large as 27,000 square feet on a single floor. But more than 130,000 square feet of contiguous space could become available over multiple floors in the east wing, said Adam Broderick of the Indianapolis office of Jones Lang LaSalle.

Neyer has selected Jones Lang LaSalle to lease the buildings.

The purchase represents Neyer’s first foray in the Indianapolis market.

“Woodfield Crossing is a premier development in an amenity-rich submarket that is very popular with a wide variety of tenants,” Neyer CEO Dan Neyer said in a prepared statement. “With its large floor plates and current space availabilities, the buildings should be especially attractive to larger users in the marketplace.”

Neyer’s plans for the buildings include renovating the five-story lobby, atrium and common area in Woodfield III. Total investment will run about $2 million, Broderick said.

Premier Properties bought the Woodfield buildings from Duke Realty Corp. in 2007.

After Premier ran into financial trouble, the mezzanine lender for the Woodfield properties, Arbor Commercial Mortgage, foreclosed in an attempt to recoup its investment. But Arbor concluded the buildings weren’t worth enough to repay both the first-mortgage holder and its own position, so it relinquished control.

Premier's Chris White, who filed for bankruptcy in 2008, had envisioned encompassing the Woodfield buildings into his audacious Venu mixed-use development, which never got off the ground.

The property that was to be the centerpiece of that $750 million project, at the southwest corner of Keystone Avenue and East 86th Street, now is owned by Wisconsin developer Hendricks Commercial Properties. Its $30 million Ironworks project will consist of 30,000 square feet of restaurants and retail on the first floor and 90 high-end apartments on the upper three floors.