There's been a shakeup in ownership of a 28-story high-rise office building in downtown Detroit's Financial District.
A Grosse Pointe family office, Tribus LLC, has bought out Foster Financial Co.'s ownership interest in the tower at 211 W. Fort St. at Washington Boulevard for an undisclosed price in a deal that closed Oct. 10, Bradley Foster, president of the eponymous Grosse Pointe-based company, confirmed Tuesday.
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"We were equal owners, and then we didn't share the same vision for the building," Foster said in a phone interview.
Tribus, which is the family office for the Vreeken family, declined comment through an attorney.
In a Tuesday afternoon email, Foster called the buyout "extremely amicable and collaborative" and said "the transition is going very smoothly."
Foster said that while his company co-owned the nearly 440,000-square-foot tower with Tribus, there were 265,000 square feet of lease renewals signed plus 85,000 square feet of new leases. Some $14 million was spent building out space for renewal and new leases, Foster said, and about $2.5 million in building improvements and common area renovations were made.
The joint venture between Foster Financial and Tribus — 211 West Fort Detroit LLC — surprised some when they took a gamble buying a major downtown office building in October 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic was in full swing. Office workers were largely working from home and the fate of the office market was in limbo. The joint venture later purchased the former Joe Louis Arena parking deck; Foster said his company has since bought Tribus out of that deal.
As part of the 211 West Fort transition, the Royal Oak office of Toronto-based brokerage house Colliers International Inc. has been hired to manage it and secure tenants to fill it. The local office of Dallas-based CBRE Inc. was the previous leasing company, while Foster Financial managed the building.
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"They wanted to get Colliers involved, both on leasing and property management, just to re-energize things and let the entire market know that 211 Fort is open for business," said Gary Grochowski, senior vice president and director of agency leasing for Colliers. "We have a war chest for TIs (tenant improvements) and to pay commissions."
"We fully believe in the partnership between Tribus and Colliers to continue making the building a success. Both are polished and successful organizations," Foster said.
Foster said the building was 61.5% occupied as of Aug. 31. Its main tenants are the U.S. Attorney's Office with 106,500 square feet; the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, which has about 61,000 square feet; and Majorel, which has about 35,600 square feet, Foster said.
The Vreeken family sold its TransNav Technologies Inc. plastic molding company to French auto parts company French auto parts injection molder Groupe Plastivaloire in 2018.