A real estate investment trust sponsored by Cole Real Estate Investments of Phoenix is buying the 26-story City Center Plaza in Bellevue for $310 million, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

A subsidiary of Cole Credit Property Trust III Inc. entered into a purchase and sale agreement with the current owner, a limited liability company associated with Beacon Capital Partners. The buyer put down $10 million in earnest money, and the transaction is expected to occur June 18, according to Cole's filing.

Beacon Capital officials declined to comment.

The purchase price works out to nearly $532 a foot.

Microsoft leases all 583,000 square feet in the tower. The lease expires in June of 2024, according to the filing.

CoStar reports Microsoft is paying an annual base rent of $18.8 million and that amount increases by about 2.4 percent a year.

CoStar also reports that Cole Credit Property Trust III, a non-traded REIT, was launched in October of 2008. It is a two-year public stock offering that, as of May 1, had raised $1.5 billion.

A trophy office property is not the type of asset that Cole normally buys. Its slogan is "The Landlord of Where America Shops." The company's website says it invests in retail properties with national or "super regional" tenants with long-term leases.

In addition to City Center Plaza, Cole is under contract to buy 10 retail properties ranging from an LA Fitness in Texas to Lowe's in Ohio, CoStar reports.

"We actually can and do purchase offices in our REITs," said a Cole Real Estate Investments spokesman, who declined to address the City Center acquisition. He added Cole buys office and industrial properties to diversify its portfolio.