News & Transactions

By Mary MacDonald

EAST GREENWICH - The recent sale of a Class A medical office building at 1454 South County Trail has set a record in Rhode Island for the per-square-foot price, according to a brokerage that was involved in the transaction.

The property is fully leased by Lifespan Corp. and operated as an ambulatory center by its sub-tenant, Brown Physicians Inc.  The building sold for $18.7 million on December 22, according to East Greenwich real estate records.

The sale is the highest value for commercial real estate in Rhode Island for 2020, but it is also the highest sale on a per-square-foot basis for the state, at nearly $400 per square foot, according to Matthew Fair, a senior vice president at Cushman & Wakefield/Hayes & Sherry.

The property commanded interest from a number of national buyers, according to a note from Fair, who was involved in the transaction, which also included several executives with Newmark, which represented the owner.

"The medical office building sector has been hot for a while, but recently we've seen more interest in medical office buildings because national investors have realized the resiliency of the asset class as compared to other sectors that are experiencing more challenges," Fair said.  "The strong interest was a combination of the national trend, plus the low-interest rates, plus the fact that the building is one of the nicest medical office buildings in New England, with a long-term, single-tenant lease from a major hospital system."

According to real estate records, the sellers were a Delaware-based limited liability corporation, Albany Road-1454 South County LLC, with an office address of 155 Federal Street, Boston.

The buyers were the Charlottesville, VA-based CPI/AHP East Greenwich MOB Owner LLC, also incorporated in Delaware.

Mary MacDonald is a staff writer for the Providence Business News (PBN).