Downtown Cincinnati office tower acquired for $59M in largest office
deal in years
Cincinnati Business Courier
November 26, 2025
By Brian Planalp
One of the largest office towers in downtown Cincinnati has sold to an out-of-state firm.
Real Capital Solutions Nov. 25 announced the acquisition of the First Financial Center at 255 E.
Fifth St. for $59 million.
Constructed in 1990, the 31-story, 551,836-square-foot Class A tower is the eighth-largest
downtown by rentable square feet, according to Business Courierresearch.
The acquisition includes the adjacent seven-story, 1,233-space garage, which provides parking
for tenants in the First Financial Center as well as those in the PNC Center and the public.
The tower is 91.66% leased to 17 tenants, overwhelmingly consisting of financial firms and law
firms, according to a Real Capital Solutions media release. That includes three headquarters
companies, comprising 65% of the leased space, in banking giant First Financial Group,
Dinsmore & Shohl LLP and Chemed Corp., which has signed a 10-year renewal.
That occupancy rate places it only behind the PNC Center (92.78%) and Queen City Square
(100%) among downtown Cincinnati office buildings, according to CBRE.
The former General Electric Global Operations Center at the Banks is technically 100% leased,
as GE Aerospace retains the lease on the building through 2031, but the company’s departure
last year has left around half the building available by sublease.
Real Capital Solutions Chief Acquisitions Officer Adam Abeln in the release described the First
Financial Center as “a premier, well-located asset with durable income streams, strong tenant
retention and long-term value potential.”
He said the investment underscores the firm’s “confidence in the Cincinnati market and the
continued strength of top-tier office assets that provide both stability, upside and a flight-toquality dynamic.”
A company spokesperson in the release cited downtown Cincinnati’s diminishing office stock,
much of it lost to residential and hotel conversions, as bolstering the case for the purchase.
Around 1.8 million square feet of former office space has been converted to housing or hotels
since 2019, reducing total office inventory by 8.3% amid stable demand.
Tom Powers, executive managing director at Cushman and Wakefield, brokered the deal.
The $59 million sale figure ($107/square foot) is the second-highest acquisition price for a
downtown Cincinnati office building since 2018, when Atrium Two was acquired for $75.5
million ($115/square foot).
The third-highest acquisition price, and a good comparison for the current sale, came in 2020,
when the PNC Center sold for $50.2 million ($100.3/square foot).
The highest acquisition price for an office building over those seven years belongs, by
happenstance, to the selfsame First Financial Center.
New York City-based Tolis Advisors in August 2020 acquired the office tower out of receivership
for $64.2 million, possibly in cash, as there is no public record in Hamilton County of the firm or
its holding companies mortgaging the property.
That deal pertained to the building itself, held through a ground lease, but did not include the
fee interest in the underlying land.
The building and the underlying land were once held by another ownership group – 255 Fifth
Limited Partnership, comprising MRI Chemed LLC and 33 tenancy-in-common owners – which
in 2006 took out a pair of mortgage loans, including a $76 million loan secured by the building
and a $45 million loan secured by the underlying land.
In December 2016, the lender filed a foreclosure lawsuit claiming default on both loans. The
ownership group substantially admitted to the defaults, and the case was all but resolved by
2017, though appeals relating to procedural issues and certain back payments lasted through
2021.
Houston-based Woodbranch Investments Corp. in November 2018 acquired the fee interest in
the underlying land for $53 million in a sheriff’s sale.
Tolis Advisors’ 2020 acquisition of the ground lease on the building largely resolved all issues of
indebtedness.
Real Capital Solutions is a 40-year-old firm that owns around 80 properties with more than $2.7
billion in assets under management.
The firm is embarking on an “opportunistic” nationwide office strategy seeking out, according
to the release, “distressed assets with strong repositioning potential through leasing, amenities
and spec suites.”
It has more than $1 billion in submitted offers across the U.S.
