Hancock Tower gets sold

No price was disclosed, but the Hancock complex of buildings, purchased in 2003 for almost a billion dollars, was expected to bring $1.3 billion or more, real estate executives said last month when Beacon Capital put the multicity portfolio of properties up for sale.

The executives asked not to be identified because the sale has not closed, and they are not authorized to talk about it.

The buildings being sold include not only the glass tower on Clarendon Street, Boston's tallest building, but also 501 Boylston St., which Beacon Capital bought in 2002 and redeveloped.

All the properties being sold are part of what had remained unsold of Beacon Capital's second investment fund, which opened in December 2001 and garnered $740 million to be leveraged and invested in real estate . The deal is expected to close within a couple of weeks.

Beacon Capital is led by Alan Leventhal, its chairman and chief executive. No one at Beacon Capital would comment yesterday.

The portfolio under agreement includes 10 Universal City in California, 2445 M St. in Washington, D.C., and 1125 17th St. in Denver.

Broadway Real Estate Partners is, like Beacon Capital, a private real estate firm that invests in first-class commercial properties in selected cities. Broadway says on its website that since 2000 it has purchased more than 7 million square feet of space worth more than $2.2 billion. No one from Broadway could be reached for comment.

The company owns 10 Post Office Square in Boston and Prospect Hill Office Park in Waltham, as well as Aon Center in Los Angeles; Pickwick Plaza in Greenwich, Conn.; and 660 Madison Ave. in New York.

Since Beacon Capital's second fund closed, it has developed two larger funds, the last one of about $2 billion for investment. The company has expanded to Europe, buying buildings in London and Paris.

Beacon Capital's objective is to hold its purchases for a few years, increase their value by leasing and making improvements, and produce returns of 18-20 percent ; their record has been even better than that.

As of late 2005, the fund that is now being sold had already returned all of the investors' capital and then some, with half the properties it bought with the fund yet to be sold.

Executives at Cushman & Wakefield of Massachusetts Inc., which assisted in the sale , said last month that it is virtually fully leased. Tenants include the advertising firm Hill Holliday, insurance firm Marsh & McLennan Cos., consultant Charles River Associates Inc., and Investors Bank and Trust Co.

Beacon Capital bought the 60-floor Hancock tower, two buildings nearby, and a 2,000-car parking garage from John Hancock Financial Services Inc. in March 2003 for $910 million. Hancock is now part of Toronto-based Manulife Financial Corp.

Beacon Capital still has several properties in the Boston area, including One Beacon St. and 200 State St. It has put a development project in the Fort Point Channel area of South Boston, Channel Center, up for sale.

Thomas C. Palmer Jr. can be reached at tpalmer@globe.com.