Beacon Capital Buys 530,000-SF Office Building

BOSTON-Beacon Capital Partners, LLC is purchasing 501 Boylston St., a 10-story, 530,000-sf building from MetLife Inc. that includes a leaseback arrangement for the NY-based insurance company.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed but according to local published reports the building, located in the heart of Back Bay, was sold for around $130 million. A spokesperson for MetLife officials declined to confirm the sale price for GlobeSt.com.

The leaseback arrangement will allow MetLife to move its associates from New England Financial, an affiliate of MetLife, out of the building slowly and it will be allowed to begin to turn space over in the building during the second year of the arrangement. MetLife currently occupies the entire building. In a released statement, the company says that most if not all MetLife operations will eventually move out of the building. The company emphasizes that it will maintain New England Financial’s headquarters in the Boston area but it is not sure where the office will be located as of yet.

MetLife’s senior executive vice president and chief administrative officer Lisa M. Weber says that the company is considering new locations in the Boston area, as well as existing MetLife facilities. But a spokesperson for the company tells GlobeSt.com that while the insurer will maintain a presence for New England Financial in the area, it is not clear whether some of the personnel from 501 Boylston will be transferred out of the Greater Boston region.

Referring to the transaction, Weber notes that the sale is a “good business opportunity for MetLife, due to the current state of the real estate market.” Alan M. Leventhal, CEO and chairman of locally based Beacon says that “Beacon is pleased to acquire a landmark building in the heart of Back Bay. We’ve had a long standing relationship and are pleased to have worked with MetLife on this transaction and the management of their strategic space requirements.”