Dover office building heads to auction

500 W. Loockerman is headed to auction in September. | PHOTO BY KATIE TABELING

DOVER — The First Capital Center, a Class A office building in downtown Dover and home to federal and state offices, is heading to auction in September.

The starting bid for the online auction for the building at 500 W. Loockerman St. is set at $1.75 million.

The seven-story building sits on the edge of Dover’s downtown district and is currently 52% occupied, according to the auction listing. In the 67,925-square-foot building, the average floor size is listed at 9,704 square feet. Vacant offices are on the second and third floor, with a tenant on the fifth floor vacating within 30 days.

Tenants in the First Capital Center include the Delaware State Housing Authority, Energize Delaware and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Other offices that are listed include the Delmarva Central Railroad Company, Carpenter Capital, Pompano Christian Center and First State Community Action Agency.

U.S. Sens. Chris Coons and Tom Carper both held Kent County offices there before moving out of the building and to an office along U.S. Route 13.

More than half of the tenants are government entities.

The property is currently owned by RSS JPMBB 2014-C23-DE TDC, a limited liability company that has connections to Rialto Capital Advisors, an investment firm based in Miami. It was bought at a Kent County sheriff’s sale in December 2021 for $4.5 million.

Real estate brokerage Colliers is handling the listing. Carl Neilson, Colliers senior vice president of the greater Philadelphia region, said that the property was an investment holding and the owner is looking to move it off its books.

“The auction is a marketing tool to get greater visibility on the market,” Neilson said. “It’s just been advertised, so we expect some more tours as time goes on.”

The auction will be held online on Ten-X on Sept. 18-20.