Best Reuse/Rehab: Winner
University Place at City Center
Butters Construction & Development
3111 N. University Drive, Coral Springs 33065
(954) 312-2402
Key Partners
Capital partner: Bristol Group
Architect: Allard Designs
When working with a legacy building in a submarket, the details must come together right for it to meet its specs. For Malcolm Butters and the team at Butters Construction & Development, University Place at City Center was one such project.
Build decades ago, the monolithic black, glass curtain wall building was priced right for an acquisition and renovation. In 2013, Butters and his investor partner saw the promise and acquired the building. Set on University Drive in Coral Springs, it was deep in a suburban market. To some, including Butters, it was the “best building in a poor market.” But he saw opportunity.
The entire stretch of University Drive in that area has seen new builds and renovations. The new Coral Springs City Hall and municipal complex is emerging a block west. Parkland to the north is slated to grow by 15,000 residents in the next few years. Business owners and entrepreneurs there would be keen to lease space in a building minutes from their homes and lives, Butters surmised.
Priced at $70 a foot with 20 percent occupancy, “it didn’t seem like a big risk,” he says. “The land alone was worth $50 a buildable foot.”
With his renovations complete, tenants are signing up. From restaurants and a coffee shop to retail and more office tenants, Butters’ “extraordinary renovations” to the entrance, lobby and other areas elevated this building to a new class for the submarket.
“Nobody’s building office because it doesn’t pay to build office, so the next best thing is to take a B to C [class] building and make it an A-minus to B building,” he says. “People in Northwest Broward are excited to go into a fairly new building.”
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