Demonstrating the creativity that is now required to successfully market office buildings for sale, McColly Bennett Commercial Advantage has completed the sale of Belden Center, a two-building asset located at 870-880 Eastport Centre Drive in Valparaiso, Indiana. Portions of the two buildings will be redeveloped into a Montessori School.
The seller was George Uzelac, a private investor/developer. The buyer was Haresa Prithyani who already owns and operates a Montessori School in Chesterton. The sale price was $3.95 million. Jeff Bennett, managing broker, McColly Bennett Commercial Advantage, and Ken Williams, broker, McColly Bennett Commercial Advantage, represented the seller in the transaction.
Belden Center is a two-building, 27,959-square-foot asset that sits on five acres. Each building has two floors. The asset was developed in 2008 as a multi-tenant property by Uzelac whose real estate tax firm occupied space on the first floor of 870 Eastport Centre Drive building.
In acquiring and financing the property by utilizing an SBA 504 loan, Prithyani has plans to redevelop and retrofit portions of the buildings to house the Valparaiso Montessori School. The new school will occupy the first floor space within the 870 building and the second floor space within the 880 building. Among the work that will be completed to establish the school include installing sprinkler systems in both buildings, adding a functioning kitchen, creating a playground on the premises, and adding a secure drop-off area.
The work will be completed over the next four to five months, in time for the next school year.
In addition to the Montessori School space, there are two other tenants, with each occupying a full floor, of Belden Center. Tech Credit occupies the second floor of the 870 building and NYAP occupies the first floor of the 880 building.
Additional parties involved in the transaction included, Ryan Peters, managing broker, Streetfront Real Estate, who represented the buyer in the acquisition, and Dan Duncan, People’s Bank, who secured the SBA 504 financing.
