Boston Properties head Mort Zuckerman

Boston Properties has made its first office building acquisition since its buying spree in 2008, according to the Wall Street Journal, picking up a 30 percent stake in a Washington, D.C. property. But rather than celebrate, industry insiders are pointing to the relatively small size of the deal — Boston Properties is paying just $8.5 million for its portion of the 180,000-square-foot office building — a far cry from the company’s larger boom time purchases. The building, currently occupied by the Internal Revenue Service, is expected to be vacant by 2011, when Boston Properties plans to spearhead a $40 million to $50 million renovation and upgrade project. [WSJ]

Boston Properties co-founder and CEO Edward Linde passed away yesterday, leaving Chairman Mortimer Zuckerman in charge of the real estate investment trust firm. Linde died of complications from pneumonia, according to the Associated Press. Linde and Zuckerman founded Boston Properties in 1970 and remained close over the years, according to a statement from Zuckerman. “We spoke almost every day and found the opportunity to laugh at both the ups and downs of the real estate business,” Zuckerman said. [AP via Post] and

Boston Properties, the real estate investment trust which in 2008 spent a record $2.8 on the GM Building and three other Midtown Manhattan properties from Harry Macklowe’s distressed portfolio, brought good news to its shareholders yesterday. The company’s Board of Directors has declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of $0.50 per share of common stock, the company announced. Boston Properties chairman and CEO Mort Zuckerman recently told CNBC that commercial real estate is doing “reasonably well” in major cities, though minor cities were struggling. TRD

Mort Zuckerman, chairman and CEO of Boston Properties, sat down with CNBC today to discuss his outlook on commercial real estate and whether the national recovery is on its way. While he was somewhat pessimistic about the industry as a whole, he said that there are some pockets of the country that are moving toward stabilization. “The industry in general is in a fairly weakened condition,” Zuckerman said. “In the major cities the commercial real estate is doing reasonably well… in the minor cities they’re having a lot more difficulty.”

From left to right: Barack Obama, Mort Zuckerman, Amir Korangy and Darcy Stacom made the New York Observer Power 100 list.

From the New York Web site: The Real Deal’s Amir Korangy made the New York Observer’s Power
100 list of the most powerful people in New York real estate, released today. President
Barack Obama ranks first on the list, which includes politicians,
developers and brokers, followed by Stephen Ross, CEO of the Related
Companies, and Mort Zuckerman, chairman and CEO of Boston Properties.
Twelve women made the list, including Corcoran Group CEO Pamela
Liebman, Elliman CEO Dottie Herman and CB Richard Ellis Vice Chairman
Darcy Stacom. The Observer also held a poll inviting readers to vote
for the most powerful people in New York real estate, and The Real Deal’s Web editor, Lauren Elkies, was named the city’s most powerful real estate blogger. [more]