Pebb, BH buy Boca Raton’s Office Depot HQ for $104M

UPDATED, April 6, 1:35 p.m.

Pebb Enterprises and BH Group picked up a national retailer’s headquarters, in the first office deal to break $100 million in South Florida this year. 

The joint venture paid $104 million for the Office Depot campus at 6600 North Military Trail in Boca Raton in an off-market transaction, BH principal Isaac Toledano told The Real Deal via email. Toledano said Pebb and BH obtained a $63 million loan, but he declined to identify the lender. Scott Wadler and Mike Basinski with Berkadia arranged the financing.

In an email, Pebb’s CEO Ian Weiner also confirmed the purchase.

Office Depot sold its home base for $28 million below its purchase price six years ago. 

In 2017, Office Depot paid $132 million for the 651,265-square-foot complex completed in 2008, records show. Three years later, the office supply retailer obtained a $118 million refinancing on the property from JPMorgan Chase Bank.

The nearly 29-acre site overlooks the Broken Sound Country Club’s golf course in the Park at Broken Sound. Office Depot has been the main tenant since 2008. 

In recent years, Office Depot has expanded into providing copying services and technology support to small businesses. As one of the few major corporations based in South Florida, Office Depot currently occupies roughly half of the campus. 

Last year, the company reported flat sales of $8.5 billion, compared to 2021, according to its March earnings report. Office Depot ended 2022 with a net income of $216 million. 

The complex’s new owners plan to implement “a substantial capital improvements program to upgrade the Office Depot campus,” according to a statement from the joint venture. Office Depot will remain as the main tenant, currently occupying roughly 300,000 square feet, Toledano added. 

“We will be seeking some [new] tenants for this great asset in a great market,” Toledano said. 

Joe Freitas and John Criddle with CBRE are handling leasing for the complex. 

An Office Depot spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment. But the company confirmed it is leasing back a portion of the campus for a minimum of two years, according to a press release. 

Pebb is a Boca Raton-based real estate development and investment firm led by Weiner. Toledano and his wife, Liat Toledano, lead BH, an Aventura-based real estate investment firm.

In February, Pebb and BH teamed up with Chicago-based The John Buck Company and Miami-based Florida Value Partners to buy a downtown Miami mixed-use development site for $39.5 million.

This week, BH also teamed up with the Related Group to buy an office building in Plantation on 13 acres that could be redeveloped into a mixed-use project with apartments, office and retail. The joint venture paid $13 million.