Posted Jan 24, 2009, 3:05 PM
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Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 476
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More on TK in todays paper. It looks like thy will open one division then eventually complete plans by opening the stainless division later.
In other HUGE news, RSA has plans to buy the Amsouth building!
RSA plans another buy downtown
Saturday, January 24, 2009 By KATHY JUMPERReal Estate Editor
The Retirement Systems of Alabama plans to buy the 34-story AmSouth building at 107 St. Francis St. for $6.75 million and update the existing office space, according to court records and David Bronner, chief of RSA, the state's $24 billion pension fund.
Less than two weeks after investor Alan Shuman of Reading, Pa., backed out of his $7.2 million offer to purchase the building because he couldn't find a lender, Bronner came forward with a bid that was $700,000 less, and it was accepted by the New York-based owners.
This will be the third major purchase funded by RSA in downtown Mobile: The $200 million RSA Battle House Tower and adjacent 238-room Battle House Hotel project off Royal and Dauphin streets, which opened in May 2007; and the Riverview Renaissance Hotel, which was renovated for $60 million in 2008.
The AmSouth building sits right across Royal Street from the Battle House Hotel.
Bronner read a Press-Register article about the AmSouth deal falling through, and "I thought maybe there was an opportunity there," he said Friday. "It's not a done deal. We're having the lawyers submit the papers to the court today."
The owners of the 280,000-square-foot building filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in May 2008, citing $450,000 in late mortgage payments. Mobile Tower Limited Partnership put part of the blame on the loss of major tenants to RSA's new 35-story Battle House Tower, according to leasing agents.
Attorneys for the owners filed an application Friday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court asking for a Feb. 10 hearing to approve the sale, according to Larry Voit of Silver, Voit & Thompson in Mobile. The purchase is expected to be finalized sometime in February, he said.
RSA has paid $100,000 in earnest money and has 30 days to inspect the building, according to court records.
Bronner dismissed rumors that he wanted to put condominium units in the building. "Basically, I think the building is sound, it just needs to be fixed up," he said.
He said the 480-space parking garage is unique, and he plans to turn the AmSouth space into nice Class B space, which will offer potential tenants an alternative to the Class A space in the RSA office tower.
That tower has about two floors of space remaining for lease, Bronner said. There is a total of about 460,000 square feet of office space.
The AmSouth building has about 100,000 square feet of available space, according to John Toomey of Toomey & Co., leasing manager for the building.
There is also a major tenant waiting for the AmSouth building to be purchased so they can work out a lease agreement, the owners' attorneys have said.
RSA's purchase would further rejuvenate downtown's commercial district, said Irving Silver, an attorney for the AmSouth's owners.
"RSA has clearly demonstrated that it does not wish to operate anything that is not in keeping with a first-class operation," he said.
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