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NEEDHAM, MA-In a deal said to eclipse $500 million, the owners of a vast industrial portfolio is selling off a majority of the properties to a Los Angeles-based real estate investment firm, sources have told GlobeSt.com. Equity Industrial Partners reportedly will harvest the lion's share of 18 million sf to a partnership led by Hackman Capital Partners, say sources who indicate the transaction could happen as early as this week. Concentrated in Massachusetts, the holdings extend to Colorado, Florida, Illinois and Texas and several other states.

"That's legit--it's definitely happening," one source tells GlobeSt.com, while another maintains that Calare Properties of Hudson, MA, is also involved, possibly as operating partner. The buyers have already made a deposit on the deal, sources say, and the principals of Hackman last month established an entity in Massachusetts known as the National Industrial Portfolio Borrowers LLC that is ostensibly related to the purchase.

EIP principal Bruce Levine declined comment on the transaction, as did officials at Calare Properties and James Thomson, a principal in the Boston office of Newmark Knight & Frank said to be playing a role in the negotiations. Hackman founder Michael Hackman did not respond to inquiries by press deadline, and CB Richard Ellis industrial sales specialist Jack Fraker was also unavailable. Fraker is said to have been the listing broker for the portfolio.