Subsidiaries of Forest City will retain 51% of the sevenbuildings and serve as asset and property manager for the JV. Sixbuildings will be involve din the first-stage closing worth $610million with the $58-million seventh building close coming in Q2 of2010. The buildings are part of the larger University Park complexand are currently 100% leased.

Forest City tells Globest.com that the main driver was to createliquidity, which has been part of its strategy outlined in 2008.However, market conditions were not amenable for this untilrecently. Charles A. Ratner, president and CEO of Forest City, saysin a statement, "It also positions us with a strong capital partnerwho can help us grow our life science business."

The University Park complex is a sprawling 27-acre, mixed-usecampus adjacent to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology campushere. The campus covers 2.3 million square feet, which is comprisedof, including the life science buildings, a 210-room hotel, 674residential units, a grocery store, restaurants and retail.Although seven buildings are involved in the JV, a total of 10 arepart of the campus.