San Francisco investment firm Divco West is putting 4 million square feet of office, R&D and hotel assets on the block -- and hoping to attract close to $1 billion for the package.

Most of the properties were acquired at bargain prices by Divco's Page Mill fund in the years following the dot-com bust. Investors are paying record prices for commercial real estate so Divco could be on the verge of an enormous return.

"It would be an absolute home run" if Divco achieved its asking price, said Steve Barker, executive vice president and branch manager for the Studley services firm in San Francisco. "There seems to be no end to frothy money. (Divco) picked up properties when people were in trouble, and now they're in the catbird seat."

The assets offered include Market Center (the former Chevron headquarters) in downtown San Francisco, the 11-acre Park Center Plaza in San Jose, a 1.2 million-square-foot office complex outside Boston and San Francisco's Clift Hotel.

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