The properties, primarily office parks, have an aggregate of 5.5 million sf, Florig tells GlobeSt.com. This represents about two thirds of Preferred's current approximately 8.7 million sf of total space.

"A price has not been established," says Michael O'Neill, founder and chairman. Area real estate executives speculate, on condition of anonymity, that the portfolio would command between $800 million and $900 million. "Ideally, the portfolio would sell to a single buyer," O'Neill says, adding, "that's our intention."

The decision to sell is not absolute, Florig says. "Any deal has to make sense." Neither O'Neill nor Florig would disclose the identities of the properties in the portfolio. According to published reports, the former Lee Tire Factory here, which O'Neill redeveloped in the late 1980s, is among them along with River Park, a converted paper company, and the former Quaker Chemical factory, also near here.