The acquisition includes two office buildings totaling more than 375,000 sf and a 40,000-sf wharf. Largely vacant, the office buildings--located at 160 North Washington St. on the North Washington Street Bridge, and 131 Beverly St., on the Charles River at the foot of the new Zakim Bridge--will be redeveloped into waterfront residential and ground-floor retail and restaurant space. The existing wharf will be redesigned as public, open space and will be connected to the Boston Harborwalk, a pedestrian walkway which stretches from the North End, around the Downtown area to South Boston.

Leigh Freudenheim, a Meredith & Grew vice president who negotiated the transaction, tells GlobeSt.com that the new owners plan a condominium conversion as well as developing a "substantial" retail component. The project, he notes, will need to undergo a fairly rigorous permitting process because of its location near the Boston Harbor and its current use as an office building.

The buildings, adds Freudenheim, are currently less than 50% occupied with mostly short-term leases. They were on the market for a number of years before Meredith & Grew signed on as brokers last year. Freudenheim says other developers have tried redeveloping the property with ideas for the site ranging from a telecommunications center to an office rehab to condominiums.