SEATTLE, April 29, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The recent sale of an eight-building, 4.4-million-square-foot industrial property portfolio located in Memphis, Tenn., Nashville, Tenn. and Columbus, Ohio, marks another successful sale by Colliers International's Asset Resolutions Team (CART) on behalf of LNR Property LLC (LNR), a market leader in commercial real estate finance, management and development and the world's largest commercial mortgage special servicer.

Colliers CART group brokered the $132 million sale of the Class-A industrial portfolio to Exeter Property Group. The buildings were placed into special servicing in June 2013, when LNR took control of the properties. The sale was co-led by CART group leaders, Michael T. Fay in South Florida, and Jon Barry in Atlanta, and with the efforts of Andrew Phillips in Memphis; Steve Timmel in Cincinnati; Andy Cates in Memphis; and Bill Baumgardner, formerly of Colliers' Columbus office.

"Unlike the initial phase of workouts and dispositions of distressed assets, it appears that even institutional-quality assets are now moving through the system. Opportunities to acquire a critical mass of value-added, Class A product continue to decline," Phillips said. "We had significant interest from many of the industry's largest players, which contributed to our ability to move the portfolio in just 90 days from assignment to closing." 

"We have had a long-standing relationship with LNR for many years and, in particular, have been working closely with them since the market collapsed in 2008," said Fay. "We are fully in tune with and understand LNR's disposition strategy and quickly and seamlessly take action to help them reach their goals."

"We could not have completed this sale without a great team effort," said Barry. "Collaborating across teams and regions is a hallmark of Colliers, and this team effort is a perfect example of our ability to leverage local expertise with the CART team's specialized knowledge of the distressed marketplace."

More than 300 of Colliers' professionals from across the U.S. are members of its CART group, Colliers' platform especially created in 2009 to oversee assets for special servicers and banks. CART coordinates the expertise and resources of Colliers offices nationwide to provide receivership, management, leasing and disposition services on all classes of commercial real estate specifically relating to distressed loans and REO assets.  Members of the group are committed to providing a broad set of front line skills, strategic alliances and resources to complex real estate challenges with the ultimate of objective of helping the financial institution achieve maximum recovery value upon disposition.

In addition to LNR, the CART team also handles the assets of many other special servicers such as Torchlight Investors, CW Capital, and Rialto Capital Management.

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SOURCE Colliers International