Shane Garrison, CIO for the Inland Western REIT, says theproperties are in Ontario, Canada; Minneapolis; Phoenix; and Ft.Lauderdale. He wouldn't divulge the exact location of thefacilities. However, Inland records show that the company boughteight office properties from American Express in late 2004 andearly 2005, in sale-leaseback transactions for more than $430million. That purchase included the 541,542-sf 1001 N. Third Ave.South in Minneapolis ($95 million), the 376,348-sf 777 AmericanExpressway in Ft. Lauderdale ($63 million) and the 306,710-sf 101McNabb St. in Markham, Ontario ($42 million). Two Phoenixproperties were included in the 2004 sale-leaseback, but the337,439-sf 2022 N. 31st Ave. property puts the recent purchase at1.6 million sf. The Inland REIT still owns the other Phoenixproperty, and the rest of the American Express-leased facilities inDePere, WI; Greensboro, NC; and Salt Lake City.

Garrison says the REIT wanted to get rid of some of its officeproperties to concentrate more on multi-tenant retail centers."We're pushing for obvious growth vehicles," he tells GlobeSt.com."We still have a few office assets. We'll look at everythingopportunistically." He says the sale was a reverse 1031 exchange,and will go toward funding the purchase made a few months ago fortwo retail assets. The REIT bought Gerry Centennial Plaza inOswego, IL in October for $33.8 million from RHS Cos. Inc., andbought a large stake in the completed 388,428-sf portion of theestimated 700,000-sf property the Shops at Legacy, a premierlifestyle center in Plano, Texas from the Karahan Cos. in anoff-market transaction.