Michael Burrichter, a principal of the CB fund, tells GlobeSt.com that the properties include the 15-story, 421,000-sf Metropolitan Executive Tower and five-level parking garage near Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ; the 21-story, 406,000-sf 101 Arch St. building in Boston; and the 13-story, 448,000-sf Century Centre, a two-building complex in Irvine, CA that includes a six-level parking structure. He says MetLife provided financing on all three properties.

Metropolitan Executive Tower is 87% occupied and was built in 1986, with British shipping firm P&O Containers and WorldCom as primary tenants. The Boston building is 96% occupied and was built in 1988, with 52 underground parking spaces and Lend Lease Real Estate as its lead tenant. The Southern California project, which was built in 1986 and 1988, is 75% occupied with Federal Express as its lead tenant.

Burrichter tells GlobeSt.com that the buyers see potential in the properties because they are all class A buildings with substantial upside despite the generally weak U.S. office leasing market. The CB fund buys on behalf of institutional investors.

"We are a value added fund, and all of these buildings have significant near-term lease rollover," he says. "We're taking leasing risk in markets that we forecast to have a near-term recovery." He says the deal conforms to the fund's strategy of investing in high-quality office buildings with leasing exposure in recovering markets.

Burrichter and Vance Maddocks, head of the CB fund, represented the buy side. MetLife was represented by Andy Merin of Cushman & Wakefield in New Jersey.

Other properties in the portfolio include 551 Fifth Ave. in New York, 10 S. LaSalle St. and 1 S. Wacker Dr. in Chicago, Lincoln Center in Dallas, 1125 17th St. in Denver, 5 Post Oak and Wells Fargo Plaza in Houston, 701 Brickell Ave. in Miami, and One Shell Square in New Orleans, plus several parking lots in Los Angeles and a group of hotels.