(HUNTSVILLE, AL) -- Persistence and patience pays off in today's confusing capital markets environment, San Diego, CA brokers Joshua Volen, Andrew Slade and Chad O'Connor proved today after closing a $15.89 million office sale in Huntsville, AL.

After canvassing 13 banks for their client, Volen of Marcus & Milichap and O'Connor of Mark One Capital finally found a lender who provided $8.9 million that buyer HPC Properties of Elkhart, IN needed to close the deal.  The brokers didn't identify the lender.

"The biggest hurdle to closing this deal was obtaining financing, but Mark One saved the deal after 13 other banks had quoted nearly 200 basis points higher on the rate," Volen says.

Volen, an associate vice president investments and Slade, an associate,  arranged the actual sale while O'Connor found the financing. 

Volen didn't disclose the loan's interest rate. However, industry watchers tell Real Estate Channel most comparable deals today are in the 6% to 7% range.

Edwin Greenhalgh, Marcus & Millichap's broker of record for the state of Alabama, assisted in closing this transaction.

Science Applications Building

The sale price of the single-tenant, 99,197-square-foot building represents $159.78 per square foot, a premium in the Huntsville market for the one-year-old property. Science Applications International Corp. occupies the entire building.

"The buyer had completed a 1031 exchange with this acquisition, and we achieved a 154-percent increased return from his original investments, or $360,000 on an annualized net basis," says O'Connor.

Cummings Research Park

Located at 6725 Odessey Drive, the four-story building is triple-net leased by Science Applications International Corp., a publicly traded Fortune 500 company with offices in more than 150 countries worldwide.

Volen says the property has excellent frontage along Odessey Drive. Constructed in 2007, the 6.7-acre property includes well-maintained landscaping and an attractive building design.

The property is located near Cummings Research Park, the second-largest research park in the United States, and Interstate 565, as well as other main traffic arteries in the city.

O'Connor says several large technology, communications and manufacturing companies, including Redstone Arsenal, Space and Rocket Center, Lockheed Martin Information Systems, Quadrum Telecommunications and Bevilacqua Research Corp. surround the Odessey Drive property.

SAIC revenue increased 11 percent from $8.3 billion in FYE 2007 to $8.9 billion in 2008.   

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