Photo courtesy of Newmark

A vacant Malden office building that once housed state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education offices traded for $7.8 million after a marketing campaign emphasized its potential for alternative uses.

The seller, Newton-based GPT Realty Trust,  paid $40.5 million in 2010 for the newly-completed 75 Pleasant St. when it was fully leased to the state agency. The new owner is Malden-based United Properties.

The 5-story building was completed in 2008 and includes 25,000-square-foot floor plates, robust power and generous floor-to-floor heights, according to brokerage Newmark. The marketing campaign emphasized its potential to be leased for medical offices, clinical space and flex users.

“75 Pleasant St. presents an attractive value-add opportunity in the heart of Malden Center, a rapidly transforming, transit-oriented downtown district in an ‘urban edge’ community just north of Boston,” Newmark Senior Managing Director Samantha Hallowell said in a statement.

The latest purchase price equates to $62 per square foot, compared with $324 per square foot in 2010. 

Abington Bank provided $5.46 million in mortgage financing for the Aug. 1 transaction.