The properties, primarily office parks, have an aggregate of 5.5million sf, Florig tells GlobeSt.com. This represents about twothirds of Preferred's current approximately 8.7 million sf of totalspace.

"A price has not been established," says Michael O'Neill,founder and chairman. Area real estate executives speculate, oncondition of anonymity, that the portfolio would command between$800 million and $900 million. "Ideally, the portfolio would sellto a single buyer," O'Neill says, adding, "that's ourintention."

The decision to sell is not absolute, Florig says. "Any deal hasto make sense." Neither O'Neill nor Florig would disclose theidentities of the properties in the portfolio. According topublished reports, the former Lee Tire Factory here, which O'Neillredeveloped in the late 1980s, is among them along with River Park,a converted paper company, and the former Quaker Chemical factory,also near here.