Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. purchased the building from 485 Properties LLC, a subsidiary of Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association, which owned the property since the early 1990s.

"The property truly is one of the few trophy properties in the area," says Mike Erickson, first vice president with the Palm Beach County office of CB Richard Ellis Inc. and a broker involved in the transaction.

So why did the owners sell it? "It was just something they had targeted as part of their annual review" of properties owned, Erickson says. "They're such a huge organization. They look at the timing and the opportunity. They thought the market conditions would provide an appropriate value for disposition at this time," he adds.