Image courtesy Google Maps

A development team is on the verge of acquiring the 19-acre Widett Circle property for $125 million, clearing the way for a master-planned development of one of Boston’s most sought-after and complex redevelopment sites.

A newly-formed real estate investment trust would acquire the property from the New Boston Food Market, a wholesale food cooperative that operates at the industrial property near the Southeast Expressway, and is working on a larger land assemblage, according to Boston Planning & Development Agency documents.

The all-cash transaction is led by the California State Teachers Retirement System, the nation’s second-largest pension fund with $240 billion in assets at the end of fiscal 2019 including $3.2 billion in real estate investment trusts. CalSTRS would be majority owner of the new ownership group, according to a memo from BPDA Director of Development Review Jonathan Greeley and General Counsel E. Renee Lefevre.

The newly-formed Widett REIT is led by William Keravuori, a former executive for Boston-based developer Abbey Group which is redeveloping the former Boston Flower Exchange property in South End as 1.6 million square feet of office and lab space.

“That project in a lot of ways is a good barometer of how we intend to proceed with our development planning here at Widett. We conducted what many would say is a very inclusive and community oriented development process,” Keravouri told the board at its June meeting.

The project scope and potential uses will be determined during the community review, he said.

The Widett Circle property took center stage as one of the city’s most-watched redevelopment sites after it was selected by organizers of Boston’s abandoned 2024 Olympics bid as the preferred stadium site.

The 26 food wholesalers, which operate out of nine buildings on the property, would relocate or shut down within a year of the ownership change, according to the BPDA memo. They would transfer their interest into a new subsidiary of the main ownership structure, known as Widett Project Sub LLC.

“We’re very pleased with this agreement,” New Boston Food Market Development Corp. President Jeffrey Corin said in a statement. “To remain at Widett required a major investment in the property, and we couldn’t make that work. Selling gives each of us a chance to determine what’s best for us, the business and the people who work here.  We’ve got a year to decide on the options moving forward.”

In response to questioning from board members, Corin said the various vendors are exploring relocation options both within Boston and the suburbs.

The redevelopment plans will require BPDA amendment of a restriction that limits uses on the property to wholesale food uses. The property can accommodate 1.7 million square feet of development by right under existing zoning, according to marketing materials prepared by brokers representing the food market in 2018.

The additional land assemblage parcels were not identified in developers’ submissions, but The Real Reporter publication said the same ownership group has agreed to buy a 4.7-acre parcel at 100 Widett Circle occupied by Americold Logistics just north of the larger parcel for $50 million.

And Mayor Marty Walsh in 2018 announced plans to sell the city-owned Frontage Road tow lot and maintenance facility which spans 18 acres north of Widett Circle. That process requires city council approval, and some councilors indicated they would block the sale unless they were given some control over the future of the property.