Principal picks up $46m Florida warehouse/office portfolio

Principal Real Estate Investors, the property investment arm of Principal Financial Group, has acquired a portfolio of five warehouse and office buildings in Florida’s Lyons Technology Park.

Principal Real Estate Investors has acquired five industrial and office properties in the Lyons Technology Park in Coconut Creek, Florida for $46 million (€29 million), according to a local press report.

The properties, acquired from a partnership led by Florida developer Malcolm Butters, comprise 300,000 square feet of space located south of Hillsboro Boulevard at Lyons and Johnson roads.

This is not the first transaction between Des Moines, Iowa-based Principal and Butters. Principal has acquired more than one million square feet of industrial and office space from Butters and its partners over the last six years, according to the report. Butters Realty & Management will continue management and leasing for the Lyons Technology Park properties.

Last month, Principal Real Estate Investors partnered with California-based developer The Martin Group to raise two ‘green’ office projects in California’s Silicon Valley, the first development to be located in Moffett Business Park, adjacent to the Yahoo! headquarters, with the second located in Sunnyvale, California. The buildings, slated for completion in 2010, will be designed to meet LEED certification from the US Green Building Council.