It appears that the 962,600-square-foot “Rooker Building” in the I-85 Business Park in Commerce has been sold.
The Jackson County Industrial Development Authority voted last Friday to execute a number of legal documents pending a Sept. 1 closing with Hillwood Enterprises, L.P., a group described by IDA attorney Daniel Haygood as “a Ross Perot investment group.” It is headquartered in Dallas, Texas.
Haygood said the limited partnership has bought a number of other large spec buildings and successfully leased them “at below the market rate.”
The IDA agreed to execute a quit claim deed, to terminate its lease agreement on the property and to issue a bill of sale covering any personal property on the site.
Haygood also said the company expressed “99-percent certainty” that it has one tenant for the building, although IDA chairman Scott Martin downplayed the certainty of an agreement with a tenant.
“They have a legitimate prospect,” he told the IDA, “…but I don’t know I would say it’s 99-percent sure, but they do have a decent prospect.”
The building, designed as a distribution center, has been vacant — and off the tax rolls — since it was completed in 2007, although it has attracted numerous visits and inquiries from prospects over the years.
Even without the pending sale, the property would have gone on the tax rolls at about $34.1 million Jan. 1.
Under the initial agreement, the property was to remain in the IDA’s name until the building was sold or leased. Earlier this year, Aegon foreclosed on the property after Rooker & Associates’ majority partner, ING Group, walked away from the project. Under the foreclosure, Rooker retained its 10-percent ownership, according to Martin.
“We weren’t sure it was actually going to take place,” Martin said of the sale. “I think it finally came together in the last week.”
The sale involves the building and the 75-acre tract upon which it sits.
