"They are very interested in it," one source tells GlobeSt.com, a notion supported by other commercial real estate professionals. One market watcher offered a supposed price of about $360,000 per unit, or approximately $68 million, although that figure was not confirmed by parties involved in the talks. The property is being handled for Archstone Smith by Cushman & Wakefield's Capital Markets Group, but members of that investment sales team refused comment on the matter, even declining to say whether the asset is on the market. Sources, however, insist that not only is Archstone-Smith peddling 2000 Commonwealth Ave., but that BC is actively chasing the opportunity. Rumors of a deal between the two entities have been circulating in the community for the past week.

Towering high above surrounding structures, 2000 Commonwealth Ave. has been a local lightning rod since well-known developer Jerome Rappaport muscled the project through permitting in the mid-1980s, despite fierce opposition from the community. Rappaport survived a last-minute bid to stop construction by then-Mayor Raymond Flynn and former Boston City Councilor Brian McLaughlin on behalf of his Allston-Brighton constituents, with the building finally completed in 1985.

Efforts to contact officials at Archstone-Smith and Boston College by press deadline were unsuccessful. The Englewood, CO-based REIT has owned 2000 Commonwealth Ave. since merging with Charles E. Smith Co., the firm which paid $27.5 million for the property in 1997. That sale had followed a failed attempt in 1992 by BC to acquire 2000 Commonwealth Ave., an effort that drew criticism for both its implications of expansion in the neighborhood and the school's secretive nature while pursuing the investment.