While none of the principals are talking, Blackstone is reportedly teaming up with Walton Street Capital, a Chicago-based group that focuses on value-added and opportunistic investments. "They are the ones," insists a Boston investment specialist tracking the deal.
Although it is considered a class A property, the 41-story tower would seem to fit Walton's investment strategy, given the amount of work that needs to be done. Now 30 years old, it needs a substantial overhaul, according to a source who previously looked at the property on behalf of another suitor.
Despite those supposed shortcomings, and the decision last year by Hines Interests to back out of an agreement to buy the tower, many observers see the building as a good investment. Along with a strong management team in Jones Lang LaSalle, the property is located in the heart of the Financial District, and has the added bonus of substantial lease rollover occurring in the next few years.
A Boston developer familiar with the building marveled at the sales price, which works out to about $253 per sf. In today's market, the developer says it would cost upwards of $400 per sf to duplicate. With rental rates tracking ever upward, the developer says anyone who can grab a piece of the Hub office market should consider doing so, even a property "that has a few warts on it."
"I think their investment is a very wise one," says the developer. "It's a brilliant move."
Blackstone reportedly will self-manage the property, but one source says the company is currently shopping for a leasing agent. Owen Blicksilver, spokesman for the New York-based company, would not comment and Walton Street Principal Ira Schulman did not return calls.
Blackstone has been an active investor in Eastern Massachusetts in recent years. It has just placed another office complex in Cambridge, Riverfront Office Park, on the market. Blicksilver would not comment on that deal either, but sources say the firm is asking $400 per sf for the pair of class A buildings, which total 660,000 sf.
Boston has seen a majority of its downtown towers change hands in recent years, although activity has slowed somewhat from the mid-1990s when REITs ruled a hyperactive investment climate. Among the tower sales thus far in 2000 have been the $66 million acquisition of 99 Summer St. by Paradigm Properties and the Carlyle Group, as well as Boston Capital's $168 million purchase of 99 High St.
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