Goldman Sachs Buys Lehman Brothers Office Portfolio

Goldman Sachs has purchased a majority stake in a 10-office building portfolio in Virginia from the estate of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc, Lehman said on Monday.

The deal closed after Goldman initially walked away in October, and Lehman brought a $100 million suit for unjustified termination of the deal, charges that have since been dropped. The final price was not disclosed, but earlier court documents valued the property at $1.26 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported at the time.

Proceeds from the sale will go to pay back Lehman's creditors.

Early on in the bankruptcy process, we had determined that the portfolio's unique blend of well-leased operating assets with as-of-right redevelopment potential and a fully-entitled development site would be poised to attract significant interest from core capital providers when the real estate and capital markets improved, said Jeff Fitts, head of Lehman's real estate group and managing director of Alvarez & Marsal, which is handling the bank's estate, in a statement.

This portfolio is unique in having core, value add, redevelopment and new development assets, said Anthony Westreich, CEO of Monday Properties, in a statement. He said the portfolio represented 30 percent of the commercial real estate in Rosslyn, a Washington D.C. suburb, and was 92 percent leased.

Tenants in the buildings include the General Services Administration, the Computer Sciences Corporation and Boeing's east coast headquarters, according to Monday Properties' property Web site. Monday also has stakes in 1440 Broadway, 230 Park Avenue and 386 Park Avenue South in Manhattan.

Real estate brokerage Eastdil Secured arranged the sale, and a bankruptcy court approved the deal in August.

Write to Roland Li at r.li@ibtimes.com.