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Bell Partners Inc.
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Recent Bell Transactions Valued At More Than $120 Million
Steven D. Bell & Company recently completed eight transactions across the Southeast with a total value of more than $120 million, including the recent sale of four senior living properties in Florida and the Carolinas, and the purchase of four other properties.
These transactions included three purchases in Georgia, bringing to 28 the number of Bell managed or owned properties in the Peach State. Another recent acquisition was the first Bell investment in the state of Kentucky, a complex of public buildings in the state capital.
The $48 million sale of four senior living communities, in a joint venture with two major investors, brings to 15 the number of senior living properties owned and/or managed by Bell, still placing the company among the largest owner/operators of eldercare properties in North Carolina.
Included in the sale portfolio were Osprey Village senior living community in Amelia Island, Fla., RidgeCrest in Mt. Airy, N.C., Homestead Hills in Winston-Salem, N.C., and Summit Hills Senior community in Spartanburg, S,C. The properties were purchased by Bell and the two ownership groups in May of 2004.
The original transaction included buying a note from a major financial institution, and subsequently leasing the properties back to the original developer/owner in a sale/lease-back arrangement.
The Bell firm also recently closed two acquisitions in the Atlanta area and another in Savannah with a total value of $37 million, continuing Bell’s longtime investment interests in Georgia.
The Savannah purchase of the Royal Oaks Apartments is a joint venture between a Bell-sponsored partnership and Covenant Capital Group of Nashville, Tenn., amounting to a $17.5 million investment. Bell and Covenant Capital have now collaborated on 11 real estate transactions over the last several years valued at approximately $160 million.
Bell President Ed Harrington noted, “Our method of partnering with Covenant has been based on adding value to property. In 10 of the 11 deals we have done with Covenant, the investment strategy has been based on a renovation of the investment property.”
Royal Oaks consists of 208 units with an average unit size of 1,452 square feet, a much larger average than found in most Savannah apartment communities. The new ownership group expects to spend around $2.5 million for renovations and there is a possibility of adding 20 new units.
Bell also recently advised a client in the purchase of a 98,000 square foot industrial/office space building called Cobblestone Business Park in the Atlanta suburb of Woodstock for $8.18 million. The buyer, Maybrook Realty, Inc. was assisted in using IRS Rule #1031 to perform a tax deferred exchange of proceeds from a sale of a like kind property.
Bell Capital Transactions Executive Nickolay Bochilo, noted, “The Bell company has been involved in more than $500 million worth of replacement property transactions over the last five years. In the case of Cobblestone, our transactional experience was a key to completing this sale.”
Also in the Atlanta area, the Bell company has purchased a 40 percent interest in Park Place Shopping Center co-owned by Bell and longtime Bell investment partner The Sembler Company. The total transaction value was approximately $11.4 million.
The property, with a total value of around $28.5 million, is now owned in its entirety by Bell. The property will be managed on-site by the Greensboro company, although Sembler will participate in leasing activity.
Bell’s first real estate purchase in the state of Kentucky was the recent acquisition of the Leestown Square office complex of three buildings in Frankfort. This transaction valued at $35.8 million is a joint venture, also with The Sembler Company.
A third partner in the Frankfort purchase was the Government Building Acquisitions Co., LLC (GBAC). GBAC has specialized for the last 30 years in the purchase of government-leased buildings from state, city and county governments.
The Sembler Company has taken a leadership role in retail development since its founding more than 40 years ago. A partner in several existing ventures with the Bell company, Sembler has completed more than $1 billion in transactions.
Steven D. Bell & Company, headquartered in Greensboro with real estate investments throughout the Southeast and Texas, manages a portfolio valued at approximately $2 billion. It consists of approximately 18,000 multifamily units, 3.5 million square feet of retail and office space and eldercare properties containing more than 1,250 senior living beds.
