At the time the sale was announced, Tochterman principal Connie Grant told GlobeSt the superblock was sold as the company's first step toward diversifying its real estate portfolio. Grant said Tochterman would begin acquiring commercial properties in the Bellevue area after the first of the year. The Bellevue-based firm is now said to be closing its first deal.

Real estate sources tell GlobeSt that Tochterman is on the verge of purchasing two office buildings at 11808 and 11820 Northup Way from industry giant RREEF Funds, a San Francisco-based REIT. Mountain Pacific, a two-building complex with an aggregate 88,000 sf of office space, is situated only blocks from the intersections of Interstate 405 and State Route 520.

Handling the sale on behalf of RREEF is Bill Pollard of Bellevue-based Pacific Real Estate Partners. Space in the Mountain Pacific buildings, built in 1983, is listed on Pacific's web site (www.pacific-re.com/) at $30-$32/sf gross, with 16,669 total sf available, including third-party subleases. While neither Grant nor Pollard was immediately available to comment on the specifics of the sale, Pacific had listed the property for sale at $19.6 million.