Brookfield Grabs 100% Control of 2M SF

BOSTON-The 100% takeover of two Financial District office towers by Brookfield Asset Management Inc. is being confirmed by sources close to the blockbuster deal, which is valued at nearly $525 million. First reported by GlobeSt.com in its Dec. 28th edition, minority partner Rreef has abdicated a 49% share of 53 and 75 State St., among the city’s most elegant and highest-yielding commercial properties. Collectively, the towers total 1.9 million sf of class A space.

The Capital Markets Group at Cushman & Wakefield was able to complete the massive transaction amidst a deteriorating climate that shelved many high-profile assets entering the sales arena last summer. Contacted by GlobeSt.com, C&W investment sales chief Robert E. Griffin Jr. declined to provide details about the transaction, citing confidentiality agreements. Industry sources, however, say the deal is in the range of $550 per sf.

Rreef, the real estate arm of Deutsche Bank, bought into the towers in April 2000 for $337 million. Some observers maintain the firm was never comfortable with an arrangement that gave limited control over property related decisions, contributing to its decision to divest. A spokeswoman for Rreef, Cindy Talmadge, declined comment on the matter when contacted by GlobeSt.com, saying only that, “we don’t respond to things like that.”