GlobeSt.com UPDATE: Related Acquires 1M-SF Polaroid Campus

"Sale of the Main Street property results from our continuing efforts to examine and leverage the efficiency and value of all of our assets," Polaroid chairman Stewart L. Cohen says in a statement. "This affords us the flexibility to pursue future growth and opportunities on an aggressive and strategic basis."

A Polaroid spokeswoman tells GlobeSt.com that the sale of the property, which fronts on Route 128, is expected to close by the end of the year. A sale price was not disclosed, but a source familiar with the deal said it is expected to be more than $80 million. GlobeSt.com previously reported that a Polaroid spokesperson denied rumors that Polaroid had accepted an offer of more than $100 million for the property from Related.

The spokesperson declined to reveal the terms of the leaseback or discuss Polaroid's plans following the expiration of that lease. "We're working on those plans so we don't have anything to share right now, but our current status will remain the same and we'll continue to function out of this office for now."

Related plans to redevelop the site, which is one of the largest and last developable parcels along Route 128. In a statement released by the firm, however, Glenn Goldstein, executive vice president, says the real estate firm was "excited about the redevelopment opportunities for this unique and prominent parcel of land."

The property sell off would be the second here for Polaroid, which in 2001, sold its office-and-manufacturing complex here for approximately $70 million in a joint venture deal between the Davis Cos. of Boston and Prudential Real Estate Investors. That agreement contained a provision that allowed Polaroid to share in proceeds from any additional development on the site. Polaroid originally purchased that 56-acre parcel on Winter Street in the 1960s and built four buildings totaling 536,000 sf.