The Deal Sheet
Trinity Financial and Apartment Investment and Management have broken ground on the $190M One Canal multifamily building in North Station. It's a great fit for Trinity, which specializes in transforming urban edge locations, and it had sought to develop this project for eight years, prez Jim Keefe tells us. (Long courtship is a little old fashioned, but it's still classy.)
Trinity will manage the construction, which involves building over the Central Artery and the Orange and Green MBTA lines. Aimco is investing $76M of equity in the 310-unit, 12-story building. One Canal is one of several projects rebuilding the Bulfinch Triangle area that for decades sat under the shadow of the elevated Southeast X-way and MBTA Green Line before the Big Dig. Prudential Mortgage Capital provided a 10-year, $114M loan to Aimco, which signed a 99-year lease for the 1.5-acre site with MassDOT. (They're assuming we won't all live in jars on Mars within 99 years.) The team expects first occupancy in '16.
CONSTRUCTION & DEVELOPMENT
Nordblom Co is seeking city approval for a pair of apartment buildings at 345 Harrison Ave in the South End, on the site of the Graybar warehouse. The Burlington-based company hopes to build a 14-story building along Harrison Avenue with 369 units and a second 13-story building with 233 units on Washington Street (plus 34k SF of retail). Plans call for the demolition of the two-story warehouse. If approved, construction could begin as early as Q2 '14.
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The East Boston Community Development Corp closed on a $6M bridge loan from MassDevelopment for the renovation and conversion of the former Dalrympe School in Winthrop into 27 apartments for seniors. The units at 46 Grovers Ave will be affordable for at least 55 years and should be ready for occupancy next fall. EBCDC has applied to have the property listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
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Urban Edge rebuilt the 12-unit building at 71 Westminster Ave that was destroyed by fire two years ago, leaving 75 residents homeless. The apartments are all affordable and green, featuring: recycled air sealing to the exterior and between neighboring units; high efficiency heating; water-efficient plumbing fixtures; energy efficient appliances; high-efficiency lighting; local and recycled content materials; and interior finishes with low-VOC content.
LEASING
Goodwin Proctor has agreed to lease 378k SF in the 500k SF office building that The Fallon Co plans to build at its Fan Pier complex. The office mid-rise, which will also have 18k SF of retail, will get into construction early '14 and be completed by spring '16. It will share the site with Vertex's 1.1M SF office/lab complex and 22 Liberty, Fallon's 14-story, luxury waterfront condominiums.
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Plymouth Rock Assurance has signed 51k SF of leases at its 99 Bedford St office building downtown. AKF is renewing for 15k SF; VFA will occupy a 27k SF as its new HQ; and Talk School signed on for 9,000 SF for its first Boston office. JLL repped the landlord. McCall & Almy repped VFA, while Cresa Boston repped AKF and Talk School.
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inviCRO has occupied 12k SF at 27 Drydock Ave at the waterfront for its HQ and state-of-the art imaging equipment. The space also is outfitted with a radiochemistry facility and an autoradiography laboratory. Ribbon cutters: MassBio's Elizabeth Steele, State Representative Nick Collins, MassBio CEO Susan Windham-Bannister, and inviCRO COO Janna Murgiaand and managing partner Jack Hoppin.
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The French bakery chain Paul has taken 6,000 SF at One Boston Place on Washington Street for its first Northeast store. The two-level space is undergoing a $2M renovation that will include an outdoor patio and is set to open next summer. Paul, which opened five locations in the DC area starting in '11, serves French breads, crepes, sandwiches, pastries, coffee, wine and beer.
SALES
Charles River Realty Investors and National Development paid Paddock--an entity of Dupont Family Properties in Webster--$9.7M for 101 Tremont St, an 11-story, Class-B office building downtown.
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Spire, a printing company, paid $7.1M to the Dorchester Bay Economic Development Corp for the 78k SF facility it had been leasing from the non-profit at 65 Bay St in Savin Hill. The EDC bought the 204k SF Dorchester parcel in '87 for $2.8M, remediated the long-dormant brownfield site, and built the facility.
EXECUTIVE MOVES
Michael O'Brien, the city manager of Worcester, has joined WinnCompanies as EVP. He'll be responsible for corporate management, strategic planning, and financial and client relationships at WinnDevelopment and WinnResidential starting Jan. 6.
FINANCING
BCC Propertyà secured $5.6M to refi a maturing loan on a single-story, 69k SF flex/R&D building in Hopkinton. Northway Bank provided the 10-year, fixed-rate loan. Colliers' Ryan Bradley and Brian Gaswirth worked on behalf of the borrower. Renovated in '02, 35 South Street is a 100% leased.
BY THE NUMBERS
Apartment vacancy rates in the region increased by 0.2% to 3.8 % in Q3 ,when 1,100 new apartment boosted the inventory, ARA Real Estate Investment Services reports. When 600 more new units come online in '14, the vacancy rate could reach 4%. By '15, when 8,000 new apartment are completed, the vacancy rate is likely to still hover around 4%.The region's highest rents are in Back Bay and Beacon Hill, averaging $2,809; coming in second are Brookline, Brighton, and Newton, averaging $1,944.
