AT&T Inc. sold its Downtown property at 424 Pearl St. on Jan. 8 for $29.65 million to a New York private investment company.
The property comprises the block of Pearl, Church, Duval and Clay streets. It is adjacent to and west of where Gateway Jax is building its Pearl Square Block N11 building at 515 N. Pearl St.
AT&T sold the property through Bellsouth Telecommunications LLC and other entities. The buyer was Reign CO2 Propco LLC.
AT&T said Jan. 24 it closed on an $850 million sale and leaseback deal with Reign Capital involving 74 properties nationwide.
“As part of its legacy network transformation, AT&T Inc. completed a structured sale-leaseback of underutilized central office facilities with private real estate development firm Reign Capital,” it said in a news release.
AT&T said the “unique deal structure that enables future profit sharing from redevelopment opportunities.”
According to Duval County property records, the AT&T site comprises two buildings.
One building is a 13-story computer/telecom data center built in 1972. It is 168,952 square feet.
The other structure is an eight-story office building built in 1946. It is 185,156 square feet.
Reign Capital is a privately-held real estate development and management firm.
An agreement with the sale says AT&T agreed to a 20-year lease with Reign with one renewal option of 10 years.
In its mortgage agreement with UMB Bank, Reign said the value of the Jacksonville property is $33.77 million.
Reign Capital says it owns and manages more than $2.5 billion of real estate assets.
AT&T said the deal with Reign “Unlocks value in company-owned properties originally constructed for legacy network equipment.”
“The uniquely structured deal unlocks value in otherwise stranded commercial real estate space,” said Michael Ford, AT&T head of global real estate, in a news release. “It’s a creative solution providing both upfront and long-term value through a revenue sharing model that fits with our broader company and transformation initiatives.”