Ash Properties confirmed Wednesday that it intends to buy the Downtown BB&T Tower, which was auctioned last week for $23.3 million.
“We are under contract for it,” COO Randall Whitfield said.
Jacksonville-based Ash Properties, which is based in a building it owns along Gate Parkway, specializes in leasing, managing and developing commercial, retail, storage and office space properties.
“We’ve always been interested in the Downtown office market. We want to take full advantage of that to participate Downtown and do our part for Jacksonville,” Whitfield said.
He said Ash Properties expects to close on the deal in midsummer and then start renovations.
“We have certain renovations we plan to do. We have some good quality tenants there and we plan to add more tenants to it,” he said.
BB&T is the anchor tenant of the 18-story tower, which is 64 percent leased.
Ash Properties’ name was not disclosed last week after it submitted the winning bid of $23.3 million Thursday to acquire the building.
A spokeswoman for Transwestern Marketing, which is handling the sale, said the firm could not comment until the sale closes.
The 285,487-square-foot building at 200 W. Forsyth St., which opened in 1975, was acquired by a group of lenders in 2016 after no one bid on the property in a foreclosure auction.
Norfolk, Virginia-based Harbor Group International had bought the building for $30.05 million in 2007, according to property records.