The Deal Sheet

Downtown offices may be all the rage for hot growth companies but one of them, TripAdvisor, is happy to be expanding into a $120M build-to-suit being developed by Normandy Real Estate Partners at Center 128 in suburban Needham, about a mile from its current location. (If it was good enough for New Kid on the Block Joey McIntyre, it's good enough for anyone.)

The development team led by Normandy's Justin Krebs and Mark Roopenian (above) held the official groundbreaking on Monday of the 282k SF building that's introducing a new "coolness factor" to the Rt 128 market. The six-story building (due for completion Q1 '15) features: an amphitheater outside and inside is devoid of ceilings, has an open-plan and a large forum space. The online travel company helped in designing--with Elkus Manfredi--an environment that reflects its unique culture: fast, collaborative, smart, Mark says. Its new HQ will be visible from Rte 128, adjacent to a new highway access ramp scheduled to start construction in the spring and the site has 450kSF for future growth (TripAdvisor has an option on 150kSF), Mark tells us.

CONSTRUCTION & DEVELOPMENT

The Abbey Group, Suffolk Construction, and Bruner/Cott & Associates broke ground on the $200M Viridian at 1282 Boylston St last week. It will have 342 residences, including 38 that are affordable, a 2,700 SF community center, 10k SF of ground-floor retail, and 290 underground parking spaces.

Real Estate Capital Partners (RECAP) of New York and Covington Realty Partners of Chicago plan to develop The Vanguard at Waterfront Square, a 194-apartment community on the waterfront in Revere, they announced on Friday. The two-building complex will have 142 one-bedroom apartments, 47 two-bedroom units, five with three bedrooms, a clubhouse and outdoor pool. It's part of a larger master plan: 900 residences, offices, hotels, retail, five acres of public open space and access to Revere Beach.

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Tufts Medical Center has completed a new 15k SF, $1.5M medical building in Quincy's Crown Colony Park for its Tufts Medical Center Primary Care--Quincy unit. The GC was Kaplan Construction. Lavallee Brensinger Architects did the patient-centered interior and healthcare design services for the fit-out.

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Trinity Financial is buying and plans to renovate a 29-story rental housing complex at 35 Northampton St in Boston with the help of a $27.75M bond issued by MassDevelopment. TD Bank purchased the bond. The developer--Trinity Northampton Phase One--will renovate the main entrance and lobby; create about 5,500 SF of office space; install energy-efficient fixtures in kitchens, bathrooms, and lighting systems; and build 11 handicapped-accessible units. Northampton Tower, will have 245 apartments, about 75% will be affordable.

SALES

Tryko Partners paid $3.8M for Radius HealthCare Center, a 159-bed nursing home in Danvers. The New Jersey-based private equity real estate firm plans to invest $2M to renovate and rebrand the facility as Brentwood Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center. The three-story, 58k SF property is at 56 Liberty St on nearly two acres.

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McAuliffe Charter School paid $4.95M to Calare Properties for 135-139 Newbury St in Framingham for a relo of its school. The new property has three buildings totaling 45k SF in a campus-style setting. Parsons Commercial Group's Victor Galvani and Jake Parsons repped the seller.

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Any idea how much a Back Bay parking space is worth these days? It's possible to find out tomorrow when two tandem spaces behind 132 Comm Ave are auctioned. Minimum bid: $250k, plus a deposit of $20k in cash or a bank check. Also, the winning bidder will pay auctioneer Paul E. Saperstein a fee equal to 10% of the purchase price.

LEASING

Cavium leased 103k SF at the Marlborough Technology Park, which is a renewal and 42k SF expansion. Richards Barry Joyce & Partners repped the landlord, Normandy Real Estate Partners. Avison Young and Lincoln Property repped Cavium.

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Plastic manufacturer Nypro leased 205k SF at 112 Barnum Rd in Devens' Barnum Business Park from landlords Hackman Capital Partners and Calare Properties. Nypro was repped by CBRE's Bob Gibson, Ed Jarosz and Rachel Marks.

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New Boston Fund leased nearly 98k SF to various tenants at Watermill Center in Waltham. Global Partners took close to 73k SF, Fireman Capital Partners, 18k SF and BlueSnap took 7,491 SF. Watermill Center is a six-story, 207k SF Class-A office building. New Boston was repped by Cassidy Turley's Duncan Gratton and Kate McGovern in the deals while its David Campbell and Ryan Romano repped Global Partners, and John Boyle repped Blue Snap.

By The Numbers - Hotels

The new Envoy Hotel that Norwich Partners recently started building at the Seaport reflects a rise in hotel starts nationwide. There are now 710 projects with 92,065 keys under construction, an increase of 27% and 30% respectively, Lodging Econometrics reports. In the construction pipeline as of Q3, there are 2,819 hotel projects with 358,691 rooms, an increase of 2% and 5%. But the future doesn't look quite as bright; there's a drop of 19% in projects being planned and 15% in the number of rooms.