The Cushman & Wakefield Capital Markets team of Scott O’Donnell, Michael Ciadella, Dominic Montazemi, Greg Miller and Miguel Alcivar negotiated the sale on behalf a private investor. 1707 Military Trail, LLC, a joint venture between Pebb Enterprises and Tortoise Properties, acquired the building for $31.45 million ($169 per square foot).
Jason Hochman of Cushman & Wakefield’s Equity, Debt & Structured Finance group secured a $30.5 million loan from Rialto Capital Management for the buyer, which provided funds for both the purchase and future capital and leasing costs.
Jupiter Innovation Center is a unique, hybrid one-story medical, office and research and development structure built in 1990 on a ±16.0-acre site at 1701 Military Trail in Jupiter. The asset is the largest for-lease office building in Jupiter, providing tremendous scale and presence in one of South Florida’s most dynamic markets.
The property was originally constructed for Marquette Electronics, which was subsequently acquired by GE Medical Systems Information Technologies (GEMS) in 1999. The asset had been anchored by GEMS, before the company vacated its research and office space in December 2019.
“With GE Medical Systems vacating their anchor position in the building at year-end, new ownership can now realize out-sized, opportunistic returns through the renovation and lease-up of the remaining space in an extremely tight Jupiter submarket,” said O’Donnell.
Jupiter Innovation Center was 66.8% leased at the time of sale. Notable tenants include Florida Turbine Technologies, Jupiter Medical Center, Central Institute for Human Performance and Jupiter Kidney Center.
“Given our client’s creative business plan, we were seeking a lender who could provide the best mix of proceeds, flexibility and pricing,” said Hochman. “We were pleased to find a solution that was accretive to our client’s investment returns with a lender that moved quickly and efficiently towards a smooth closing.”
Along with its convenient location just south of the award-winning Jupiter Medical Center hospital system, the property is located less than three miles from world-class facilities like the Scripps Florida Research Facility, the Max Planck Florida Institute and United Technologies brand-new $115M technology showcase center, which help attract tenants who are drawn to Jupiter’s growing life sciences hub.
The property is also fully entitled for the development of a ±50,000 square foot medical/professional office building with an accompanying 175-space parking structure.
“This development opportunity will allow the buyer to capitalize on the demand for medical and professional office space near Jupiter Medical Center while also dramatically increasing net operating income and overall value of the property,” added O’Donnell. “It is the only ‘shovel-ready’ development site of its kind in Jupiter.”
