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A Wisconsin-based firm has purchased the downtown Century Building for $13.8 million from Zeller Realty Group, which bought the historic building out of foreclosure just over a year ago.
Summit Realty Group, which represented Chicago-based Zeller, announced the transaction Monday morning.
Hendricks Commercial Properties of Beloit, Wisconsin, paid $90 per square foot for the 153,849-square-foot building at 36 S. Pennsylvania St., giving Zeller a tidy profit on its $6 million investment.
Hendricks is also the developer of the $30 million Ironworks mixed-use development on the southwest corner of East 86th Street and Keystone Avenue, which features 36,000 square feet of ground-level retail space and 120 high-end apartments.
Zeller Realty bought the Century Building in December 2013 out of receivership in a bidding process that attracted at least a half-dozen bidders. Zeller also bought downtown's Market Tower out of foreclosure, in October.
“Our business plan from the beginning was to complete the capital program we had in place and lease up the building in just over a year,” Zeller Vice President Tristan Glover told IBJ. “As much as we love the building, you’re supposed to do what your business plan says.”
Zeller made $1 million in improvements to the seven-story Century Building’s elevators.
At the time of Zeller’s purchase, the building had just lost one of its largest tenants—Steak n Shake. The locally based burger chain moved to the nearby Ober Building, which it purchased in September 2012, on the opposite corner of Pennsylvania and Maryland streets.
The two floors Steak n Shake vacated didn’t stay empty for long. Existing tenant Salesforce.com, the San Francisco-based firm that purchased ExactTarget in June 2013, snapped them up.
The building is fully occupied. Other tenants include Denison Parking, Princeton One Search, and Tin Roof on the ground level.
The building previously had been owned by Blue Real Estate. The California-based company last made a payment in 2011 on a loan with a balance of $8.4 million.
The Century Building was developed to house printing companies in 1901 and converted to office use in 1984.
Zeller was represented in the sale by Alex Cantu, Matt Langfeldt and Rich Forslund, all of Indianapolis-based Summit.
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