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BOSTON — Winthrop Realty Trust (NYSE: FUR) has entered into an agreement to acquire four recently constructed Class A apartment buildings for $246 million. The agreement is with ST Residential, an affiliate of Starwood Capital, along with an unnamed third-party investor and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. The FDIC acquired the interest from the failed Corus Bank. Built to condominium specifications prior to a lender foreclosure, the properties include 44 Monroe in Phoenix; Highgrove in Stamford, Conn.; Mosaic II in Houston; and San Pedro Lofts in San Pedro, Calif. Winthrop expects to close on the purchase of these properties by October. The Boston-based company provided a $25.5 million nonrefundable deposit on the properties. A combination of cash reserves and new secured financing is slated to pay the remaining balance, according to Winthrop. “We like the optionality created by the opportunity to acquire a cash flow positive portfolio of high quality condo-constructed multifamily assets at what we believe to be well below replacement cost,” says Michael Ashner, chairman and CEO of Winthrop. 44 Monroe is a 34-story, 184-unit condominium building that includes 1,377 square feet of ground-level retail. Constructed in 2008, the property's amenities include a spa and swimming pool with …

FOSTER CITY, CALIF. — Essex Property Trust (NYSE: ESS), a multifamily REIT based in Palo Alto, Calif., has sold Harbor Cove Apartment Homes, a 400-unit waterfront apartment complex in Foster City. Essex sold the Bay Area property to a fund sponsored by Acacia Capital Corp. for $138 million, or $345,000 per unit. The apartment community is located on a 15-acre site at 900 E. Hillside Blvd. in Foster City, which is about midway between San Francisco to the north and Silicon Valley to the south. The $138 million sale is the largest transaction by dollar volume in the Bay Area so far this year, according to Essex’s broker, Institutional Property Advisors (IPA). “Opportunities to acquire larger multifamily assets in the mid-peninsula market are extremely rare. In fact, Harbor Cove is the only 100 plus-unit asset that has traded hands in Foster City since 2004,” says Philip Saglimbeni, vice president of investments at IPA, which is the multifamily brokerage division of Calabasas, Calif.-based Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Services. IPA serves institutional and major private investors, such as Essex. Saglimbeni represented Essex alongside Stanford Jones and Salvatore Saglimbeni of IPA. The brokerage team of Jones, Saglimbeni and Saglimbeni has brokered …

OAK BROOK, ILL. — Inland American Real Estate Trust Inc. has agreed to sell its core net lease portfolio consisting of 294 retail, office and industrial assets to New York-based AR Capital LLC (ARC) in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $2.3 billion. The deal includes the assumption of approximately $795.3 million in debt. “The sale of our core net lease portfolio is a major step in executing our long-term strategy of focusing our energies and investment capital in the multi-tenant retail, lodging and student housing asset classes,” says Thomas McGuinness, president of Oak Brook-based Inland American Real Estate Trust, a non-traded REIT. “We believe these asset classes will generate consistent cash flows, which will allow us to continue providing our stockholders with sustainable distributions while allowing us the opportunity to benefit from current real estate trends.” The deal represents “the culmination of a robust evaluation process to achieve maximum value for this portfolio of core net lease assets,” adds McGuinness. From the disposition, Inland American expects to realize up to approximately $1 billion of net proceeds, which could be received during the next nine months. The company intends to use these net proceeds for, among other things, investing in …

NEW YORK CITY — Brookfield Property Partners LP (NYSE: BPY) has agreed to acquire Atlanta-based Industrial Developments International Inc. (IDI) from the U.S. unit of Kajima Corp. for $1.1 billion. The transaction will add 75 distribution facilities totaling 27 million square feet to Brookfield’s industrial portfolio. IDI also brings to Brookfield its 49 million square feet of future development projects and third-party property management business. The corporation’s properties are located in several key industrial markets in 12 states. Among the markets IDI has a presence in are Chicago, Cincinnati, Memphis, Dallas/Fort Worth, New Jersey, Atlanta and Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. Following the acquisition, Brookfield’s industrial portfolio will total 62 million square feet, plus 79 million square feet of future development potential. “The addition of IDI to Brookfield’s existing industrial operations will create a leading global industrial real estate company able to deliver high-quality distribution facilities to clients around the world,” says Ric Clark, CEO of Brookfield. “The combined business will own irreplaceable assets and development sites near major markets and transport routes, with a 25-year track record of delivering superior service, and is now positioned for significant long-term growth.” As a result of the transaction, which is expected to close in …

NEW YORK CITY — SunTrust Banks (NYSE: STI) has committed $5 billion to fund commercial mortgages originated by MetLife (NYSE: MET). Atlanta-based SunTrust has agreed to fund MetLife's newly formed real estate investment management platform, MetLife Real Estate Investors, for three years. MetLife Real Estate Investors originates and manages commercial mortgages on behalf of institutional investors. “We welcome SunTrust as a client and partner as it brings strong regional and national expertise that complements our long standing real estate investment heritage,” says Steven Goulart, executive vice president and COO of MetLife Inc. “This unique partnership supports our larger strategy to provide innovative and reliable investment vehicles to our clients.” MetLife is one of the largest portfolio lenders in the industry with $43.1 billion in commercial mortgages outstanding at the end of 2012, and with more than $9.6 billion in commercial mortgage loan originations in 2012. “Our goal is to be one of the top five institutional real estate investment managers, and with this mandate from SunTrust, we are confident the company is headed in the right direction,” says Robert Merck, global head of MetLife Real Estate Investors. As of June 30, SunTrust had a total of $171.5 billion in assets …

LIBERTY BUYS 23M SF OFFICE, INDUSTRIAL PORTFOLIO FOR $1.5B MALVERN, PA. — Liberty Property Trust (NYSE: LRY) has agreed to acquire the operating partnership of Cabot Industrial Value Fund III, which is operated by Boston-based private real estate investment firm CabotProperties Inc. The nearly $1.5 billion transaction will add 177 properties scattered across the country, or approximately 23 million square feet, to its portfolio. The deal is expected to close this October. As of May 31, 93.3 percent of the purchased space was leased to a total of 436 tenants. “This acquisition is a compelling opportunity to increase both the size of Liberty's industrial platform and its scope,” says William Hankowsky, chairman and CEO of Liberty. “With approximately 58 percent of this portfolio located in Liberty's current markets and approximately 21 percent in the target markets of Atlanta, Dallas and Southern California, we are expanding into three of the top five national industrial markets.” Liberty’s existing market in Chicago will see the largest increase in square footage, as more than 3 million square feet will be added in the Second City. Atlanta will be the largest of the new markets, with properties there totaling 2.2 million square feet. “With one …