The latest Square deal costs an Atlanta firm $70 million

A sour economy and slumping market for office space has not stopped the Harvard Square real estate juggernaut.

Wells Real Estate Funds, a real estate investment management firm in Atlanta, recently announced its $70 million purchase of 1 Brattle Square, a six-story brick building that last sold for $44.4 million in 2000.

The previous owner, OB Square Leasehold LLC, sold the property on Feb. 26, according to filings at the Southern Middlesex Registry of Deeds.

The 98,069 square-foot building was assessed this year at $48 million by the city assessor. But with little new development in Harvard Square, all retail space is prized.

''Harvard Square is a fabulous place to own," said Gerald D. Cohen, president of SF Properties Inc. in Brookline. ''You've got a tremendous population there, with a fair amount of disposable income."

The building houses Harvard University offices, The Limited clothing store, and Eastern Mountain Sports. All three tenants hold long-term leases, and Wells has no plans for major renovations, said Ben Johnson, the company's director of real estate marketing.

Johnson said Wells, which also leased to FleetBoston in a second building in Harvard Square in January, is just happy to hold the commercial property, despite office space vacancies as high as 20 percent in parts of Cambridge. ''Our business is buying and holding long term," he said. ''It's a good building in a great location."

Former mayor Anthony D. Galluccio was not surprised by the closely watched sale. But he said Harvard Square could not remain forever immune to real estate gloom, and he also worried that extravagant sales force expensive leases and undermine independent businesses.

''It's limited in terms of space, and it's a one-of-a-kind location," he said.

Benjamin Gedan can be reached at gedan@globe.com.