German Investors To Sell Downtown Asset

BOSTON-A nine-story office building in the heart of the Financial District is the latest commercial property to be put up for sale, according to industry sources. The 71,000-sf 45 Milk St. is owned by a German investment group, and some estimates say it could trade for as much as $30 million.

Cushman & Wakefield has reportedly been hired by 45 Milk St. LP to market the so-called “jewel box building,” a term coined by C&W’s Capital Markets Group several years ago to describe older-yet-ornate properties in Boston’s CBD. While peddling some of the region’s most humongous deals–trading over $5 billion in New England last year alone–the C&W Capital Markets team led by Robert Griffin has crafted a specialty in finding buyers for bite-size assets coveted by a certain class of investors, often foreign sources. Nearby jewel-box buildings that the C&W team of Griffin, Marci Griffith and Edward Maher have sold locally include 84 State St. and One Liberty Square. Members of the team did not respond to inquiries from GlobeSt.com regarding 45 Milk St., but sources acknowledge that the group is marketing the building.

Constructed in 1893, 45 Milk St. is considered among the city’s most historically significant office structures and a skyscraper for its time. The erstwhile International Trust Co. building has undergone various renovations over the years, including one that expanded the building back in 1906. The property is currently 100% occupied, and its consistent tenancy offers a measure of stability, observers say, while 45 Milk St. also has a location just one block off the Post Office Square Park that anchors Boston’s Financial District.