The seller was a fund operated by First Industrial Realty Trust,based in Chicago, and Kuwait Finance House, Kuwait City. The twocompanies launched the fund three years ago to buy stabilizedproperties developed by First Industrial. According to JimCarpenter, the latter's executive director of investments, theexpectation was that with low interest rates driving record pricingfor industrial assets around the country, selling in the currentmarket would generate very favorable returns.

And while the 6.2-million-sf portfolio does include both officeand industrial properties, it's heavily weighted toward theindustrial side. The final sale price computes to just under $56.50per-sf portfolio-wide.

The deal was arranged for the sellers by Cushman &Wakefield's Metropolitan Area Investment Services Group, basedhere. Andrew J. Merin headed the team effort, which also includedthe firm's Mike Davis in Tampa, David Meline in Atlanta, PatrickSullivan in Chicago and Jim Vesey in Philadelphia.