Image courtesy of Elkus Manfredi Architects

Cambridge’s former Edward J. Sullivan Courthouse has been acquired by Brookfield Properties, which agreed to assume the outstanding mortgage debt of nearly $232 million.

Boston-based Leggat McCall Properties converted the former Middlesex Superior Court building into 422,000 square feet of office space and 48 apartments.

Bank OZK provided the original construction loan of $300 million in 2021, and construction wrapped up in 2024.

But in January, Bank OZK took a $72 million charge-off on the project, after designating it as substandard non-accrual in the fourth quarter of 2025. At the time, the bank’s quarterly report indicated that one-third of the building’s office space was under negotiation for a lease. No leases have yet been announced.

According to a Middlesex County deed, New York-based Brookfield Properties acquired the property on July 2 for $1 and assumption of the outstanding mortgage balance.

The state Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance offered the property at 40 Thorndike St. to private developers after it was shut down in 2008 because of “sick building syndrome” and building system failures. The tower was originally constructed in 1971, and had housed District Court and Superior Court facilities, the district attorney’s office and some jail cells.

In 2021, CBRE Global Investors joined the project as a new equity partner.

In an earnings call in January, Bank OZK CEO George Gleeson said the developers’ equity partners were unwilling to contribute additional capital to the project without an office lease.

East Cambridge’s office market has been hard-hit by rising vacancies, which sat at 23.8 percent at mid-year, according to a report by Avison Young. But the submarket still commands Greater Boston’s highest asking rents at $80.18 per square foot, ahead of Back Bay’s $79.03 per square foot figure.