"The sale-leaseback is part of a larger initiative AT&T hasunder way to manage our capital and redeploy our capital," acompany spokesman confirms for GlobeSt.com. "In the process, we arere-orienting our real estate assets. Through the acquisitions overthe years, AT&T owns a lot of real estate."

"We do have a long-term lease with options," the spokesman says,while declining to provide specifics of the lease. "The sale won'taffect our New Jersey operations. It won't change the function ofthe facility."

The site's primary function is as AT&T's global networkoperations center, plus other administrative uses. It brieflyserved as AT&T's world headquarters prior to the company'sacquisition by Southwestern Bell and subsequent consolidation ofall HQ functions to San Antonio. At one time, the site was anoperations center and overflow location for AT&T's long-timetwo million-sf headquarters campus in nearby Basking Ridge beforethe company downsized and consolidated its HQ and administrativeoperations to the Bedminster location in 2002.