BurkHill Real Estate LLC, a St. Louis-based private real estate investment fund, completed more than $12 million of enhancements to its18-property portfolio the Offices at Chesterfield Village, in Chesterfield, Missouri.
Despite a decrease in office leasing activity nationally because of the COVID-19 pandemic, BurkHill has also leased about 76,000 square feet of office space in the property portfolio to 23 new tenants during the past few months.
In September of 2019, BurkHill acquired the former Sachs Properties holding, an 860,000-square-foot real estate portfolio in Chesterfield near the intersection of Highway 64/40 and Clarkson Road. The firm’s total investment in the properties exceeded $100 million, which includes the purchase price and planned capital improvements. The deal was one of the largest real estate transactions in St. Louis in recent history.
This investment is part of BurkHill’s Fund I investment portfolio, and based on its success, BurkHill is actively fundraising for Fund II, which will be an extension of its Fund I investment strategy.
“This property is an excellent example of our investment strategy for our Fund I,” said Mark Burkhart, co-founder of BurkHill and co-managing partner of the Chesterfield Portfolio. “We look for opportunities to maximize the value of a property through strategic capital improvements. Despite the headwinds in 2020, we are very bullish on the amenity-driven suburban office market and short- and long-term demand for office space.”
The original Chesterfield portfolio consisted of 13 multi-tenant office buildings, four retail properties and one industrial warehouse facility. Since September 0f 2019, BurkHill has made $12 million in capital improvements at its 13 multi-tenant office buildings.
Despite a decrease in office leasing activity nationally, activity at the Offices at Chesterfield Village remained strong. In the last several months, BurkHill leased about 76,000 square feet to 23 new tenants. New tenants include Mutual of Omaha Mortgage (19,000 square feet), NFP (12,000 square feet), Kingdom Capital (8,500 square feet), Freedom Title (4,500 square feet) and Lifestance (4,100 square feet). BurkHill has also renewed 42 existing tenants comprising 156,000 square feet, and it has several deals pending that total more than 25,000 square feet.
Among some of the capital improvements included are substantial new amenity packages including food services, new lounges, large conferencing facilities, workout rooms and fitness centers, upgraded lobby finishes and common area corridors, significant landscaping enhancements and new landscaping, new HVAC systems, elevator modernizations, roof replacements, garage renovations, and COVID-19 prevention and compliance enhancements.
Gershman Commerical Real Estate was retained to provide property management and leasing services for the portfolio.
Along with the capital improvements and leasing activities, in December 2020, BurkHill sold the two restaurant locations in the Chesterfield portfolio anchored by Bishop’s Post. Additionally, the firm sold the 25,000-square-foot warehouse property on Wild Horse Creek Road. BurkHill also recently tore down the 300 Building at the Chesterfield Mall entrance and sold the property to a local developer.