PHILADELPHIA-Exeter, PA-based Amato/Kropp buys 81,500-sf Ames Plaza in Broadheadsville, PA for $3.75 million. The anchor tenant, Rocky Hill, CT-based Ames Department Stores, is reorganizing under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

MIAMI-The state's tallest office structure, the 55-story First Union Financial Center, hits the market six years after San Francisco, CA's The Shorenstein Co. acquired it for a record $207 million. The 1.2 million-sf property was estimated to be worth about $265 million last spring.

LONDON-The UK's traditional long lease is on the way out, according to new research from Chesterton. More than 500 property professionals were polled and a vast majority expect leases of five years and less to be commonplace by 2007.

FORT WORTH-American Health & Life stamps possibly the largest office lease this year in Fort Worth after looking for nearly a year. The deal sparks a relocation from the CBD to Mercantile Center, five miles from the city's heart. The move starts in July.