The five buildings were constructed from 1985 to 1999, andprimary tenants include Lear Corp., ABN Amro and Motivation Realty,also known as Carlson Marketing. These three tenants comprisealmost 63% of the property, and have an average lease termremaining of six years.

The property is about 80% occupied, says CB Richard Ellisexecutive vice president Joe Anthony. Anthony and Jeff Schuberg,Bill Novelli and Mark Hellwig represented TIAA-CREF in thetransaction. "The national pension fund advisor had owned theseproperties for decades," Anthony tells GlobeSt.com. "They'reprimarily focused on higher-growth markets, such as Chicago and NewYork City, it didn't make sense to hold the Officentre any longer.They felt that other markets had better risk-adjusted returnsrather than Detroit."

However, Anthony says he still believes the Troy market willpull through Michigan's tough economic times. "That market isattractive to decision makers in that it's close to high-endhousing, offers outstanding services and retail opportunities andhas great access to I-75. It's a dynamic livable market," he says."In looking at the top office markets there, Detroit, Southfieldand Troy, Troy is definitely the best of the three." He says hecan't discuss the lease rates at the Officentre. The average officelease rate for the Troy submarket is $27.23 per sf, according to afourth-quarter Grubb & Ellis report.