WELLESLEY, MA-The Blackstone Group's Equity Office Properties is continuing its disposition of Boston-area assets. The latest to trade is Wellesley Office Park, a 649,184-square-foot office park here that fetched $237 million. The Boston Business Journal was the latest to report that the buyer was Toronto-based Manulife Financial Corp.; a spokeswoman for Manulife did not provide a definitive answer confirming or denying the report. 

An HFF team led by Coleman Benedict and Ben Sayles, hired by Blackstone in September, represented the seller in the deal. “Wellesley Office Park can easily be considered 'best in class' and embodies all the long-term criteria standards of institutional investors: irreplaceable setting, convenient access, on-site amenities and marquee tenancy,” says Benedict. “This distinction is overused in today's environment and only truly applies to those office properties that consistently outperform their peer group, regardless of market conditions.”

The master-planned, eight-building complex is currently 90% leased. Its tenant roster includes AXA Equitable Life Insurance, Northwestern Mutual Life, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Newton-Wellesley Hospital, Wells Fargo, Morgan Stanley, Eagle Investment Systems, Stream Global Services, UBS, Benchmark Senior Living, REZ-1, Baystate Financial and F-Squared Investments.

Already, Blackstone has sold off several Greater Boston properties that came as part of the $23-billion EOP deal in 2007. The Business Journal reported that New England Executive Park in Burlington was sold to Charles River Investors for $216 million; 25 Mall Road in Burlington was purchased by TA Associates for $77.1 million, Hines bought Riverside Center at 275 Grove St. in Newton for $197 million and 1-3 Center Plaza is under agreement with Shorenstein Properties, reportedly for more than $200 million. In addition, 225 Franklin St., a 34-story, 916,000-square-foot tower in Boston's Financial District, is on the market.