El Segundo’s airport-adjacent office market has attracted a lot of investor interest lately, particularly along a short stretch of Continental Boulevard.

Most recently, Continental Tower, a 15-story Class A office building constructed in 1972 as headquarters for what was then Continental Airlines, was sold to American Realty Capital Properties Inc. for $98 million. The New York real estate investment trust purchased the nearly 333,000-square-foot building in a sale that closed earlier this month from a partnership of L.A. real estate company Barker Pacific Group, Boston hedge fund Baupost Group and the San Francisco-based real estate arm of Prudential Insurance Co.

The tower, at 101 Continental, was the third major office property within a two-block area full of headquarter buildings to trade hands since April. Real estate firm DivcoWest purchased the Gateway El Segundo office park at 300-460 N. Sepulveda Blvd. in April for $75 million. In May, the firm went back for more, purchasing Continental Grand Plaza at 300-400 Continental for $124 million.

ARCP said it was attracted to the El Segundo property because of its proximity to defense and technology companies and the Los Angeles Air Force Base. Its strong tenancy was also a big consideration. After the building’s previous owners completed a $40 million renovation of the property in 2008, aerospace and defense contractor Northrop Grumman Corp. signed a lease to occupy the entire building through 2018.

“The single-tenant net lease nature of the property, strong credit of the tenant and location of the asset made this an attractive opportunity,” the company said in a statement.

But even as Northrop’s long-term lease served as a draw to the property, Steve Solomon, a managing director in the El Segundo office of Jones Lang LaSalle Inc., said the lease also dampened the building’s appeal. That’s because the tenant, which relies heavily on government contracts, signed an unusually flexible lease that provides multiple opportunities to reduce square footage and even terminate occupancy. Its renewal options are similarly flexible.

“If the tenant had just a straight 10-year lease, the building would have sold for substantially more,” he said. “But because (Northrop) has that flexibility, the value of the building went down.”

Real estate brokerage Eastdil Secured represented the sellers in the tower transaction; ARCP handled negotiations internally.