By Ken Alltucker
Enquirer staff writer

In one of the most lucrative suburban office deals in Greater Cincinnati in recent years, an Idaho investment group has agreed to buy the Summit Woods office complex in Sharonville for more than $30 million.

DBSI Housing Inc. already has spent $19.9 million to buy the 142,000-square-foot Summit Woods II office building occupied by tenants such as HSR Business to Business, Toyota Financial and Massachusetts Mutual.

DBSI also has signed a purchase contract for the 75,000-square-foot Summit Woods I building. That deal is expected to close later this month.

The price equals about $140 per square foot - making it one of the most expensive office purchases in Greater Cincinnati in recent years.

Four other Blue Ash-area Class A office buildings have changed hands this year at prices ranging from $46 to $81 per square foot. Only the Hawthorne Center, occupied by a single tenant, Sara Lee, sold at a higher price, $142 per square foot in 2002, according to data provided by Grubb & Ellis West Shell Commercial.

The Summit Woods purchase price is in the range of some top-tier downtown buildings, such as Chiquita Center and Atrium II.

"It's an aggressive price, but we think it's a well-positioned building with great visibility," said Bart Weprin, a Sperry Van Ness broker who teamed with Equity Group's Arthur Calamari to sell the building.

Equity Group joined with Cincinnati United Contractors to launch Summit Woods five years ago after Calamari assembled a 49-acre site that included nine single-family houses just off Reed Hartman Highway outside the Interstate 275 loop.

As part of the deal, Equity Group/CUC will retain 24 acres that could yield another 400,000 square feet of office space. Equity Group and its principal owner, Fred Skurow, haven't announced plans to build more office space at the site.

E-mail kalltucker@enquirer.com