$889M State Street Sale Marks Start of Strong 2007

BOSTON-The $889-million acquisition of the State Street Financial Center by an affiliate of Fortis Property Group kicked off the New Year with a bang for the city’s real estate market in what some observers say reflects a growing trend for well-leased assets in the Downtown core. American Financial Realty Trust AFR sold the one-million-sf, class A office property.

“We’re seeing the year start off with a very strong market, especially for the trophy properties,” says David Begelfer, head of the Boston Chapter of the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties. “This is right in line with what we’ve been seeing for the last three years–an ever increasing appetite for prime investment properties here in Boston.”

Jenkintown, PA-seller American Financial Realty Trust acquired the property, at One Lincoln St., in February 2004 for a record $671 per sf, or $704 million, and sold off a 30% share in the asset later that year to an affiliate of the Canadian group IPC US Income Commercial REIT. The recent sale of the Financial District office building generated about $200 million, which will be used primarily to pay off the company’s debt, according to Anthony DeFazio, with American Financial.