Commercial real estate sales in Charleston hit record $540M in 2013

Sales of commercial buildings in the Charleston region hit a record last year, a real estate firm said in a new report.

The combined values of the deals totaled $540 million, up 21 percent from the previous high set in 2012 according to a new year-end market analysis by Colliers International's local office.

"Leading the way for sales of existing buildings were apartment communities, then shopping centers, followed by office building transactions," Colliers said.

Sales of apartment added up to $140 million. The top deal: the newly built Talison Row on Daniel Island, which Florida-based Trade Street Residential acquired for $48.1 million, or about $175,000 a key.

Office building deals totaled $82 million last year, including 25 Calhoun near the South Carolina Aquarium in downtown Charleston. It sold for $24 million.

In all, 10 local shopping centers changed hands, led by the 180,000-square-foot Freshfields Village. A New York investment firm bought the property near Kiawah and Seabrook islands for an eye-opening $59.8 million, according to the Colliers report.

Hotel sales more than doubled to $62 million from 2012, with six lodgings coming under new ownership.

The figures do not include the real estate that changed hands in the $350 million sale of Kiawah Partners or Meadwestvaco Corp.'s sale last month of its local forestry holdings.