"The way things are going, maybe," one observer says of theprospects for achieving such a return, and most concur $900million-plus should be attainable. The tower last sold in Decemberto New York City-based Fortis for $889 million, or close to $854per sf. The marketing campaign is sailing into the teeth of afickle financing climate, and super-sized transactions areconsidered the most vulnerable to a prolonged downturn. But someobservers note that foreign investors, major pension funds andall-cash buyers are not as affected by the debt disruption thattook hold nationally this summer as are those requiring highlyleveraged loans.

In any event, sources claim the new ownership has opted to testthe financial waters, and say Eastdil Secured's Boston office hasbeen selected to handle the assignment. A broker in the Bostonoffice declined comment when contacted by GlobeSt.com, while callsto the firm's headquarters in New York City were not returned bypress deadline. Sources insist that Eastdil is brokering the deal,however.

One Lincoln St. is one of the few office towers constructed inthe city after the market crashed under a glut of space in theearly 1990s. The tower was originally conceived in the 1980s as away to spread investment to the inner city, with the developersrequired to erect another commercial building in Boston's Roxburyneighborhood. While that initiative was eventually realized, OneLincoln St. foundered until the Gale Co. stepped into the picturein 1999 and teamed with the controlling partnership to get the sitepermitted and land an anchor tenant. The latter goal was achievedwhen State Street Corp. preleased the entire building.