[IMGCAP(2)]"They are definitely trying to get it done," a sourcefamiliar with the negotiations tells GlobeSt.com. Other sourcessupport that notion, maintaining that Brookfield and Rreef arediligently working to complete the transaction by year's end. Rreefput its 49% stake in the two towers up for sale this summer,retaining Cushman & Wakefield's Capital Markets Group to handlethe assignment. Calls to C&W, Brookfield and Rreef were notreturned by press deadline.

Despite the broad silence, sources insist that Brookfield hasthe towers under agreement. Given the volatile investment salesclimate that has gripped the industry during the second half of2007, observers warn that no deal is safe from falling apart untilan actual closing, but one source says the negotiations on 53 and75 State St. are so far along that a collapse of the pact seems"improbable" at this stage. "They both want it to happen," thesource claims of trading the ownership to Brookfield.

Rreef has had an ownership in 53 and 75 State St. since buyinginto them in April 2000 for $337 million. The older of the two, 53State St., is a 40-story blue-glass structure that sits at thecorner of Congress and State Streets, traditionally the centerpieceof Boston's office market. That tower came on line in 1984, while75 State St. opened in 1988 two doors east. The 31-story,800,000-sf tower is considered one of New England's premiercorporate addresses and typically rents at the top of themarket.