Boyle Buys More Space

Boyle Investment Co. has expanded its property portfolio “at the intersection of Main and Main in Memphis” by buying a building in Ridgeway Center business park for $1.3 million.

Boyle bought the 10,000-square-foot office building at 5904 Ridgeway Center Pkwy. from Entercom Communications Corp. last week.

Boyle’s Mark Halperin and Tom Hutton Jr. represented the company in the sale, while Kelly Truitt and David Creed of CB Richard Ellis Memphis’ Tenant Advisory Group represented Entercom.

“We were delighted we were able to buy the property, and at the same time have Entercom be a long-term tenant in our Moriah Woods campus,” said Halperin, executive vice president of Memphis-based Boyle.

In February, the Pennsylvania-based broadcast company announced it would consolidate its Memphis operations at Boyle’s Moriah Woods office campus at Mt. Moriah and Interstate 240, increasing its local space to 18,000 square feet.

Entercom, one of the five largest radio broadcasting companies in the U.S., houses its six Mid-South radio stations between two offices at 1960 Union and Ridgelake Boulevard.

“The plans are to get into our shiny, new space and have one fully operable operation all under one roof,” said Dan Barron, vice president/market manager of Entercom Memphis.

Entercom expects to have all 115 employees moved into Moriah Woods by the end of February, making Boyle’s campus more than 75 percent occupied.

Once Entercom vacates the Ridgeway offices, Boyle plans to lease the prime property, Halperin said, and already has an unnamed prospect for the space.

Though the struggling economy and credit crisis have brought investment sales to a stagger across the real estate market, it was in Boyle’s best interest to buy the prime property in Ridgeway Center, Halperin said.

“Typically, it’s a small building for us to buy,” he said. “It’s strategically located at the entrance of Ridgeway Center … at Poplar and Interstate 240.”

Halperin estimates that Boyle, which celebrated its 75th anniversary this year, owns between 60 and 70 percent of the 1 million square feet of Class A office space in Ridgeway Center.

Recently, Boyle finished construction of a 155,000-square-foot build-to-suit office building in Ridgeway Center for Sedgwick James.

Investing in the East Memphis market is another strategic move on Boyle’s part, which has sustained the test of the down economy, Halperin said.Only 2.5 percent of Class A office space is vacant in the East Memphis market, according to the third-quarter CBRE Office Marketview.

“Ridgeway Center has become the heart of the business community,” he said