Lexington Corporate Ctr. Trades for Nearly $50M

LEXINGTON, MA-Normandy Real Estate Partners is making good on its vow to become a major player in the Boston market. The Morristown, NJ-based firm has acquired 1.4 million sf of real estate in Massachusetts since December, including the $47.5-million acquisition of the Lexington Corporate Center, which Normandy closed on just days ago.

“We’ve made our stamp on the market and I think we’ll continue to do so,” says Justin Krebs, a principal at Normandy, adding that the company plans to invest another $600 million in the Boston market over the next two years.

The company’s latest buy, the 285,000-sf, 19.4 acre Lexington campus, was a coupe of sorts, acquired in an off-market deal with seller Essex River Ventures LLC, which had just put the four-building property on the market with The Trammell Crow Co. At least 90 requests for confidentiality agreements had already been signed on the property, Krebs says, when Normandy asked to put in an offer. Essex River Ventures, which bought the Lexington campus three years ago for $35.3 million, agreed to Normandy’s request and a deal was struck.