N.Y. investors buy 1 SeaGate

The 32-story tower was built for O-I.

A New York investment group that specializes in underperforming commercial properties has purchased downtown Toledo's premier office tower.

The 32-store One Seagate, on the Maumee riverfront, was purchased Friday by Amtrust Realty Corp., New York, Harlan Reichle, of commercial real estate firm CB Richard Ellis/Reichle Klein in Maumee, said yesterday. His firm handled the sale for the previous owner, insurer RVI Group Inc., of Stamford, Conn.

Mr. Reichle declined to reveal the purchase price. However, when RVI took ownership of the building last September it did so for $1 million and assumption of a $32 million mortgage.

The 707,000-square-foot building was valued at $41 million last year by the state, but local real-estate experts estimated its value at $20 million to $31 million.

No one at Amtrust was available for comment yesterday. But the company has a reputation as preferring to buy signature properties and fill them with tenants signed to long-term leases.

Last week Amtrust bought another RVI-owned property, the 19-

story twin AXA Towers, the signature office properties in Syracuse, N.Y. RVI had been attempting to market One SeaGate and the AXA Towers as a package deal.

One SeaGate, which recently attracted Fifth Third Bank as anchor tenant, was built in 1981 for Owens-Illinois Inc. The Fortune 500 bottle-maker moved to Perrysburg last year.

Fifth Third plans to occupy half the building. Tentative deals are in place to bring retailers into the concourse level.