In both cases, the buyers nabbed troubled properties at discounted prices. But both buyers say they were motivated by more than just a good deal.
Investors recently snapped up some bargain properties in downtown Cleveland's longtime financial district, an area that some city advocates and real estate brokers are trying to reposition to attract new office tenants, residents and retailers.CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Buyers bullish on downtown have snapped up two bargain properties in the Erieview district, stirring up redevelopment prospects for largely vacant buildings.
An investor group tied to Broadvox, a tech company that employs 80 people downtown, recently paid $2.5 million for the 65-75 Erieview Plaza office complex.
The investors, BZT Acquisition LLC, plan to wire up the property as a high-tech office building with a data center, Internet telephone service and other Broadvox products.
And the Stafford brothers -- high-profile divorce lawyers -- purchased the neighboring building, 55 Erieview Plaza, in deal that closed Wednesday. Joseph and Vincent Stafford plan to move their law offices and more than 30 employees into the building, which sold for $700,000.
In both cases, the buyers nabbed troubled properties at discounted prices. But both buyers say they were motivated by more than just a good deal.
"I think that we share the optimism that a lot of other movers of projects in the downtown area seem to have," said Alex Gertsburg, general counsel for BZT and Broadvox. "It's noticeable. We love this city and it seems like a lot of our contemporaries feel the same way, and we certainly want to be a part of its growth."
Based in Texas, Broadvox employs more than 250 people across the country. Several of the company's owners are members of the BZT investor group, and Broadvox probably will move some employees into the 65-75 Erieview complex, which comprises 190,000 square feet.
Gertsburg said the company has not decided whether to relocate its Cleveland offices from the Halle Building on Euclid Avenue.
The BZT property, formerly bank-owned, is one of a dozen or so buildings struggling with high vacancy in the city's longtime financial district. A group of downtown advocates and real estate brokers is trying to recast the area as a mixed-use neighborhood that can attract new office tenants, residents and retailers.
"It's such a value really, a deal," said W. Farley Helms, a senior vice president with the Ostendorf-Morris brokerage, which represented the seller of 65-75 Erieview.
The Stafford brothers bought 55 Erieview Plaza after selling the home of their law firm, cattycorner from the site of a downtown casino, for $5.8 million. An agent of Rock Gaming and Caesars Entertainment Corp., the casino developers, bought the building.
The Staffords plan to redevelop 20,000 to 25,000 square feet of 55 Erieview Plaza, an 88,000-square-foot building, for their law offices. Vincent Stafford did not know how much the renovations will cost and would not identify other potential tenants.
"I think it's a great opportunity for us, and I think it's a great opportunity for downtown where people are reinvesting," he said. "We could have easily gone out to the suburbs, but it was important for us to stay downtown."
Early this month, Vincent Stafford told The Plain Dealer that he would spend a year working on real estate projects, after the Ohio Supreme Court suspended him from the practice of law for legal misconduct.