By JAMES FINK
jfink@bizjournals.com | 716-541-1611

A joint venture of bicoastal investors acquired Olympic Towers, ending a four-year period in which the downtown landmark was the ward of two major banks.

The investment group of Olympic Towers Acquisition Co. LLC paid $2.5 million for the 173,464-square-foot building on Pearl Street. The main portion is more than 110 years old. Comprising the group are principals of Prime Asset Fund, an investment group with offices in Los Angeles and Tampa, and Genesee Street Partners LLC, a New York City-based investment group.

"We are delighted with our acquisition of Olympic Towers and look forward to the opportunity to enhance the value of this historic property as part of the nearly $1 billion in development under way in downtown Buffalo," Jamie Rand and Bruce Korman of Prime Asset Fund said in a statement.

As part of the deal, they said much of the building will be renovated including the four-story glass atrium that connects the 10-story main tower with an adjoining tower of four stories.

CBRE/Buffalo brokers Shana Stegner and Sarah Cashimere-Warren, who brokered the deal, were retained to lease and manage the building.

Olympic Towers is 76 percent leased. Anchors include U.S. Bankruptcy Court, the U.S. Trustee's Office and the Gourmet Store restaurant on the first floor.

Originally constructed in 1902 as downtown headquarters for the YMCA, Olympic Towers was renovated in 1987.

The building was acquired in August 2008 by JPMC 2005-CIBC 12 Olympic Towers LLC, an affiliate of JP Morgan Chase Bank and Chicago's LaSalle Bank. It paid $8.46 million to Elman Buffalo Associates LLC. Elman had $11.2 million when it bought the building in late 1998.

The JPMC sale was part of a complex legal action and eventual foreclosure led by LaSalle Bank. LaSalle attempted to recoup an $8.3 million that JP Morgan Chase Bank originated in 2005.

Constructed a century ago and renovated and expanded in 1987, Olympic Towers has a prime location behind the Hyatt Regency Buffalo hotel and bear the Buffalo Niagara Convention Center. The original asking price of $3.9 million failed to attract any substantial offers, as did an online auction. Last fall's "call for offers" led to Olympic Towers Acquisition stepping forward.