An Atlanta-based real estate firm will buy UrbanMeritage’s 28-building Newbury Street portfolio in Boston for approximately $180 million, multiple sources have told Banker & Tradesman.

Jamestown, which typically invests on behalf of German deep pockets, will acquire properties along the city’s famed shopping boulevard, as well as on Boylston, Clarendon and Dartmouth streets in Boston’s tightest submarket, the Back Bay.

The Newbury Line includes approximately 105,000 square feet of retail space, 36,000 square feet of office space, 50 residential units and 55 parking spaces. The 28 buildings are about 75 percent leased. Several are vacant shells awaiting renovation, but most are 100 percent leased and renovated, according to industry sources.

Some sources, citing the scarcity of similar properties coming on the market, have called this portfolio a "generational" opportunity. Interested investors are viewing the Newbury Street portfolio relative to similarly positioned properties along Chicago’s Magnificent Mile or Madison Avenue in New York City – especially if those same investors already own property in those retail markets, and are looking to round out their holdings with a Boston presence.

But that doesn’t mean it’s not a sky-high price.

"I think the buyers know they’re overpaying for it, but I think it’s a good place to invest their money … and they can eventually increase rents and generate a return," said one real estate executive interviewed for this article. "It’s probably no different from a lot of core buys from around the country. If you think you’re buying something special, which I think [the Newbury Line] is, you’re willing to pay more for it because you’ll make money in the long-term. We’re definitely thinking it’s a once in a generation opportunity to buy that much property on Newbury. I think they’re just looking for the best of the best, and the obviously feel they’ve found it."

The portfolio includes or will include locations currently occupied by high-profile retailers like Pinkberry, Ben Sherman, Scoop NYC and Marc Jacobs. Principals from the ownership group declined to comment for this article.

UrbanMeritage spent upwards of $105 million to purchase the properties, and have increased rents 100 to 150 percent in some properties just by performing gut renovations to buildings, Principal Michael Jammen told Banker & Tradesman in June.

The company purchased 177 Newbury St. for $3.5 million in 2007, according to The Warren Group, publisher of Banker & Tradesman. The building was an 18-room boarding house at the time, and the company needed to relocate residents before gutting the property.

The firm gets 75 to 80 percent of its revenue from retail operations in its properties, but those operations account for only 30 to 40 percent of the Newbury Line’s square footage, Jammen said.

Average retail rents in the Back Bay have climbed to about $120-per-square-foot, sources told Banker & Tradesman recently. And according to information provided by UrbanMeritage, storefront vacancies on Newbury Street have dropped to just 3 percent this year, compared to roughly 7.5 percent at the same time last year. In 2009, vacancies spiked to approximately 12 percent.

UrbanMeritage and Taurus began buying the so-called Newbury Line properties in 2006, when it purchased 95 and 91 Newbury St. It has since accumulated 28 properties in the portfolio, largely with money from Anglo Irish Bank.

Eastdil Secured is selling the Newbury Line portfolio. Eastdil has also been retained to divest Anglo Irish’s approximately $9.5 billion U.S. real estate portfolio, about a quarter of which is concentrated in Greater Boston. However, since the Newbury Line is a highly performing portfolio, it is being sold separately on behalf of Taurus, which provided the equity capital, instead of Anglo Irish, which provided the debt, according to sources.

Eastdil has also been hired by Anglo Irish to market the luxury Mandarin Oriental Boston hotel, according to reports. The bank is retaining its ownership in the hotel and selling the property as a stand-alone asset, separate from the sale of its remaining U.S. holdings. Anglo Irish’s U.S. holdings are slated to be sold to Texas-based Lone Star Funds and affiliates of Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase.