Jonathan Litt, senior real estate analyst and director of real estate research for Salomon Smith Barney, renewed the flurry of speculation about the bidding process during his presentation yesterday at the New York Chapter of the Real Estate Lenders Association breakfast. Litt suggested during an interactive question and answer period that Boston Properties was no longer hotly pursuing the property and Vornado Realty has become the likely frontrunner.

Following Litt's comments, GlobeSt.com spoke with an inside source who confirms that Boston Properties is no longer in the running. "With the shift in lending rates, what we're seeing is that different players with more depth of resources [equity versus debt structures] are making their moves," he told GlobeSt.com. "Increasingly, this is going to become a market where equity overshadows debt. Of course, the cost of that equity is higher. So, in order to gain something, these players have to sacrifice more."

None of those considered the top bidders, Equity Office Properties Trust, Vornado Realty Trust, Boston Properties Inc. and Fisher Brothers, would comment on the record, nor would Goldman Sachs.