Brookfield Hires Eastdil to Sell Hub’s Exchange Place; Price Could Near $600 Million

BOSTON—The Financial District’s original Main and Main is for sale—and 53 State St. is expected to fetch a big price at a time when core real estate is in hot demand. Completed in 1985 on the same site where the Boston Stock Exchange opened its doors in 1896, Exchange Place is being harvested after a long-term hold by Brookfield Office Properties. The investor that favors premier CRE across North America has hired Eastdil Secured to peddle the 40-story, blue-glass tower, according to a source tracking the situation. Another estimates the asset that contains approximately 1.1 million sf could trade in the $600 million range. “It’s huge,” that source says of the listing.

Exchange Place will be the second downtown Boston tower being sold through Eastdil in 2011, with the firm presently marketing 33 Arch St., a recently completed Class A office building on the edge of Boston’s Downtown Crossing retail center. While far older, Exchange Place holds an unbeatable location and has an impressive tenant roster, including major law firm Goodwin Proctor.

Brokers at Eastdil did not respond to phone inquiries by press deadline, and Brookfield officials were not immediately available for comment. Nonetheless, multiple sources insist Brookfield is selling the building developed by its predecessor, Olympia & York, taken over by the New York-based firm in the 1990s in a bankruptcy reorganization. Most recently, Brookfield bought out a ground lease held on 53 State St., paying $17 million to control that element of the landmark site.