The buy marked the first for Wells in Manhattan and the last for Wells' REIT Fund I, which produced some $800 million in acquisitions throughout the country in Q4, bringing the fund's 2003 tally to $2.9 billion. Sources familiar with the REIT's acquisition strategy speculate that we should expect a disposition phase on Fund I properties to follow a period of asset management, presumably for value-enhancement.

While no one from the REIT is talking, the buy is clearly delivery on a promise made by leaders of the fund in late summer of last year. As GlobeSt.com reported at the time, Wells, in the person of CIO David Steinwedell, stated that, "We can be fast and we can be patient. We can be patient to find the right property and then be quick about making the deal. We don't have to get in New York this year."

At that August press conference, Steinwedell also revealed that Wells would be allocating some $500 million to area purchases and had already scoped out various opportunities, all of which ultimately fell through. "They're still open wounds," he noted.

Average asking Downtown rents at the end of '03 were $32.88, according to CB Richard Ellis statistics. Getting rates were 81% of asking, up from a low of 77% in September.