The bidding war for the Guilford County-owned Edgeworth building in downtown Greensboro is over and the winner is LDJ Global Strategies LLC, which is purchasing the property for $2,021,300.
The building was the subject of a good deal of buyer interest – including from Koury Corp. – and several companies bid on it before LDJ put in the final winning bid last month.
LDJ Global is run by well-known Greensboro success story Louis DeJoy, who was CEO of New Breed Logistics from 1983 to 2014 before that company was scooped up by XPO Logistics for $615 million. After that, Dejoy started LDJ Global, a real estate and private equity company.
The Edgeworth building currently houses probation and parole officers as well as some other functions serving the state and the county. The sale of the property and building at 232 N. Edgeworth St. is expected to be approved by the Guilford County Board of Commissioners at the board’s Thursday, Feb. 6 meeting.
As part of that deal, the county will be able to continue to use the building rent free for up to a year and a half.
The building, which has a listed tax value of $2,793,300, contains about 38,700 square feet of space and sits on less than one acre of downtown property.
After the county got the $2,021,300 bid from LDJ Global, a public notice for a 10-day upset bid period was issued, but there were no new bids in this round that ended at the close of business on Friday, Jan. 24.
According to Guilford County facilities staff, this price is considered “fair market value” for the property after the bid process in which three different parties bid for the building.
The agreement the commissioners are expected to approve this week includes a provision that allows Guilford County to lease back the property at no cost for up to eighteen months – with an option to extend that lease by an additional six months “on a month-to-month basis at a reasonable market lease rate.” While Guilford County occupies the space, the county will be responsible for the taxes, utilities and maintenance of the building.
