Ask Taurus Investment President and CEO Peter Merrigan what he thinks of Boston after closing a $226.5M sale, and he’s all smiles. (You’d think he just sent a child off to college.)

We snapped him last week moderating a REFA meeting about financing CRE investments. “We did well,” he says of Taurus’ and JV partner UrbanMeritage’s recent sale of 28 properties around Newbury Street to Jamestown Properties. He was also upbeat about the Boston CRE market (it’s among the top five in the US) because of its job growth, diverse economy, and high barriers to entry. But fear about the world’s precarious economic condition means there’s a “feeding frenzy” among investors for the best assets. That’s why core assets, like the Back Bay portfolio Taurus sold two weeks ago, are selling “at record prices.” As for the world as a whole? “It’s a mess,” he says.