BlueCross BlueShield office in Columbus still waiting on a buyer
The old BlueCross BlueShield of Georgia building has sat empty more than a year, waiting on a buyer or some other entity to come up with a good use for the 147,000-square-foot structure at 2357 Warm Springs Road.
No user has materialized yet for the former office complex that had served as the home of the health insurance firm’s Columbus operation from 1958 through 2015, said Ed Adams, a commercial broker with Coldwell Banker Kennon, Parker, Duncan & Davis in Columbus, which is marketing the 12-acre property for its owner. But the project is making headway, he said.
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“There’s nothing I can release today,” Adams said recently. “But here in the next few months, we’ll probably have something that we can announce. We’ve got a couple of different avenues. We’re working with the owners to see which direction that we take and what’s best for them.”
Without being too specific, the broker said a direct sale to an entity is not the only path, suggesting the property with primarily Class B office space could be developed in some form or fashion. That could lead to space on the site being leased.
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The office building and land are owned by PH Columbus Land Holding LLC, a corporation based in Las Vegas, Nev., according to Muscogee County tax records. BlueCross and BlueShield turned it over to the company on Dec. 31, 2015.
The Molasky Group of Companies, a contracting firm headquartered in Las Vegas, constructed the new 235,000-square-foot, $76 million home for BlueCross Blue Shield of Georgia in Muscogee Technology Park on the northeast side of the city. The insurer is leasing its new building long term from Molasky Group.
The asking price for the old Warm Springs Road complex is $8,595,000, according to real-estate websites. The Muscogee tax office lists fair market value at just over $9.4 million. The former office and call center property is located in the center of the city and has decent amenities, including a cafeteria, a fitness facility, data center and multiple reception areas.
BlueCross BlueShield of Georgia operated out of the office complex since 1958. That’s when the original structure was constructed. A multi-story tower was added in the late 1960s, with yet another expansion taking place in the 1970s.
This story was originally published February 27, 2017 at 5:54 PM with the headline "BlueCross BlueShield office in Columbus still waiting on a buyer."