The 111,583-sf five-story brick, office building has ground floor retail and 47 parking spaces. The building was originally constructed in 1888 and entirely redeveloped into a Class A office building in 2001. The building is currently 75% leased to CCBN, ACIS, CitySoft, Verizon and the blue wave restaurant. Cushman & Wakefield has been retained as leasing agent for the property.

Young Park, president of Berkeley Investments says, "We have traditionally been known as a value-added/opportunistic real estate investment company, but over the past few years, we have been cultivating capital relationships, which now afford us tremendous flexibility to seek investments within a wider range on a risk/return spectrum. These relationships will allow Berkeley to pursue investments ranging from bank debt to core assets, with transaction sizes ranging from $5-$150 million."

The building is located in the Fort Point Channel/Seaport district. The company notes that the building is in an area that is "benefiting significantly from the completion of major capital improvement projects" including the Big Dig and the new Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. "This established sub-market already attracts a diversified tenant base of architecture and engineering firms, financial software, high-tech, and publishing companies," the company adds.

Richard Griffin, vice president of acquisitions for Berkeley, says, "343 Congress was an off-market transaction negotiated directly between Berkeley and the seller, Intercontinental. This particular asset, purchased for a high-net worth European investment group, is a good example of what Berkeley classifies as a Core Plus investment. The Core Plus market is one that Berkeley has been aggressively pursuing over the past year." Berkeley defines Core Plus investments as those properties that are well-located, have high-asset quality with long-term leases in-place, credit tenant occupancy of at least 50%, and yield improvement opportunities through the lease-up of vacant space.

According to Grubb & Ellis's most recent market report, the city continues to attract investment from local, national and international players. Boston, the report notes, is considered to have some of the country's strongest mid- and long-term fundamentals.

Berkeley Investments is a locally based real estate investment, development and asset management company with approximately 2.7 million sf of office, research and development and industrial properties. The asset will be managed by Berkeley Management, an affiliate of Berkeley Investments.