Sometimes the price paid for a property – the amount it traded for – rockets a deal into our Top 10 list.

It makes sense, considering that the amount of money invested in something is an easy way to get a sense of the impact of a transaction and the state of the market today. During the downturn, for example, only the best assets traded hands, but not at the same numbers achieved during the first decade of the new century.

But using price as the main variable in a Top 10 list also makes the list predictable. So, the Business Journal approaches it with an out-of-the-box filter, giving weight to other variables in a transaction: the size of the property, profile of the players, complexity of the deal and its big-picture impact.

We hope the latest list is interesting and controversial. I’m sure that, as a reader and real estate expert, you will find at least one deal “that should not have been in the Top 10” – otherwise, I haven’t done my job as an objective expert. I hope, at the very least, it makes you think. And – if I may leave you with a 21st-century thought – may your tweets be more interesting as a result. – Oscar Pedro Musibay

4: Crocker Partners’ $262.2 million purchase of Miami Center, one of the downtown area’s most high-profile office buildings, was driven in large part by the area’s emerging live-work-play environment and the building’s spectacular water views, the company said.

Additionally Crocker valued the “rapidly emerging amenity base downtown.” Investments during the recent cycles, including the addition of a Whole Foods Market – now under construction just northwest of Miami Center – were big, positive attributes.

“The investment in downtown during the last cycle has had a profound impact making Miami the most exciting market in all of Florida,” Crocker partner Tom Brockwell said. “Existing properties are benefitting immensely from all the investment in the area.”

Rockwood Real Estate Advisors Managing Director John Bell represented seller Sumitomo Corp. of America, and also put together the financing package for Crocker. The 786,000-square-foot Miami Center was completed in 1983.

To get the deal done, Crocker executed a 10-year, fixed-rate CMBS financing package for the purchase of the Class A building. Citigroup underwrote the financing.

The strategy is to modernize the common areas, including the lobby and first-floor retail spaces, and stabilize the rent roll, with an exit planned in three to five years. Crocker also has plans for a restaurant on the ground floor.

The building’s occupancy is in the mid-80s, and Crocker doesn’t expect a replacement of any major tenants, which largely comprise financial advisory firms and law firms.

Crocker is confident in its ability to compete with the three new office buildings on the market.

“One of the speculative deliveries is now full, and we like the prospects for the other two to stabilize here over the near term,” Brockwell said. “Our tenants enjoy unparalleled water views and a convenient location to area amenities. It will be the older B buildings that suffer most from flight to quality.