"They are the purchasers," one industry source tells GlobeSt.com, echoing similar reports that the Boston-based firm has emerged victorious from a spirited bidding competition launched earlier this summer by the joint venture owners, DivcoWest Properties LLC and Yale Properties USA. Sources also claim DMP is using long-time funding source Prudential Real Estate Investors to finance the acquisition.

Presently, none of the parties involved appear willing to discuss the situation. A spokesman for DivcoWest declined comment, as did DMP CEO Jonathan Davis, while Yale Properties did not respond to a phone inquiry be press deadline. The park is being brokered by the Boston office of Eastdil Secured, but brokers there also did not return multiple phone calls. Nonetheless, sources insist the decision has been made, and claim the victorious team has begun its due diligence program with an eye toward closing by early autumn.

Not only is CrossPoint among the more imposing commercial properties in suburban Boston, the complex has been an oft-discussed development since being originally constructed in the 1970s as the home of erstwhile computer giant Wang Laboratories. As GlobeSt.com detailed earlier this summer when the development initially went up for sale, Wang's quick demise meant a difficult beginning to the 1990s for what was then known as the Wang Towers. By 1994, the hulking structures were nearly empty when the park was sold at auction for about 35 cents per sf. If the $180-million figure is accurate, that would equate to nearly $150 per sf.

Made up of several area entrepreneurs and backed by financing from New York City, the group that acquired the park in 1994 set about repositioning the complex just as the region was beginning to recover from a prolonged recession. A lively lease-up campaign and assistance from the City of Lowell led to the park being reborn as the CrossPoint Towers, followed by its sale in 1998 to Yale Properties and the BlackStone Group for $101 million. Blackstone ultimately gave way to DivcoWest, which bought into the park in 2005.

As with the rest of the Interstate 495 North office submarket, CrossPoint endured a sluggish start to the new millennium when the technology bust enveloped that area, sending many startups out of business and leading to a glut of office and flex space. I-495 North has yet to fully recover, with vacancy rates pegged at 22.7% in the latest survey by Jones Lang LaSalle, the highest among the seven suburban submarkets tracked by the firm. JLL puts the average rental rate at $17.72, lowest of the seven. The suburban average asking rental rate is $21.82 per sf, JLL reports.

At the depths of the most recent downturn, CrossPoint did have its slow periods, but the complex has outperformed other properties of late. There has been 600,000 sf of leasing completed during the past two years, with the owners landing such major firms as Motorola, now the anchor tenant. Richards Barry Joyce & Partners has served as leasing agents during much of that latter-day activity.

Davis Marcus Partners has enjoyed its own CRE surge this decade, with principals Davis and Paul Marcus having constructed a major mixed-use complex in Boston and presently redeveloping several prime assets in Waltham, the region's core suburban office market. The company has also expanded into Florida.