AmStar shops Baltimore offices

Real Estate Alert, April 14, 2004

Swiss-backed AmStar Group is marketing a well-occupied office tower in Baltimore.

The 239,000-square-foot building, at 300 East Lombard Street, could fetch $41 million, or $170/sf. At that price, the buyer's initial annual yield would be 9.2%.

The occupancy rate is 90%, with asking rents of $22/sf--similar to the average paid by current tenants. About 25% of the leases expire by 2007, including 24,000 sf leased by Royal Indemnity through 2006. Other tenants have long-term leases, including law firm Ballard Spahr (50,000 sf through 2012), Town & Country Trust (17,000 sf through 2014) and multimedia firm Accelera (12,000 sf through 2011). The building includes about 4,000 sf of retail space and a 165-car garage.

The 19-story property, which faces Baltimore's Inner Harbor, was built in 1984 by area developer Rouse, a major player in the Inner Harbor's development. It was originally named after Baltimore Federal, a savings and loan that went belly up in the early 1990s. An affiliate of J.P. Morgan Fleming (then known as J.P. Investment Management) assumed control of the building via foreclosure. It sold the property to AmStar, a Denver company backed by a private Swiss investor, in 1999 for $28.8 million, of $121/sf.

Colliers Pinkard, which co-brokered the sale to AmStar, has the current listing. For more information, call Phil Iglehart at 410-347-7566.