In recent days, potential bidders have been calling, emailing and paying visits in person to the Bon Carré Business Center, which goes up for a three-day online auction beginning Monday.
Broker Bill Sanders of Beau Box Commercial Real Estate, which is helping market the property, says there’s been lots of interest in the 713,000-square-foot property, which was taken back by its lender in August after longtime owner Commercial Properties Realty Trust defaulted on a $36.1 million mortgage.
The property is not expected to fetch nearly that much at auction. The minimum bid is set at just $12 million, though a more likely sale price would be somewhere between $18 million to $24 million.
Both local and out-of-state investors have expressed interest in the property, according to Sanders, who believes a buyer would want to keep Bon Carré, with its 68% occupancy rate, in operation as a business park.
“I still think its highest and best use is as a high-density office park,” he says. “It’s not as if Bon Carré is a blighted property. It’s brimming with activity and there is nothing else like it from an office standpoint.”
A new owner could bring amenities to the center that would enhance its value—restaurants and a health club, for instance.
“Even if we don’t get a bid that the bank is willing to accept, we will continue to work on attracting those kinds of tenants,” he says.
The online auction, which is being conducted by California-based Ten-X Commercial, was originally scheduled for Oct. 1 but was pushed back to give bidders more time to visit the property. Participation requires a minimum $50,000 deposit.
