The buyer was NovaGen Pharmaceuticals, an affiliate of AurobindoPharma Ltd. of India, an R&D company focusing on APIs andgeneric formulations. The building itself is currently 40% leasedto multiple tenants, and NovaGen will use the remaining space for acombination of manufacturing and distribution.

"The sale was the result of an unsolicited offer," according toa spokesperson for MEPT. "The building was developed in 1989, andwe forecast challenges in marketing the building to distribution orwarehouse tenants, since it suffers from some obsolescence whencompared to the new, state-of-the-art industrial buildings in themarket. The final price was $5 per sf, or 10%, higher than theasset's most recent appraisal."

MEPT is an open-ended commercial equity real estate fund withmore than $3 billion in net assets. Organized in 1982 and based inWashington, DC, the trust is maintained by Riggs Bank NA.