The Deal Sheet
Samuels Real Estate’s recently approved $650M plan to expand the Landmark Center will bring more open space, offices, residences, and a supermarket to the Fenway. (As long as the ratio of people to fresh kumquats in the produce section remains constant we should be fine.)
This iconic building that kicked off the multi-billion transformation of the Fenway will now take it to the next level, Samuels EVP Peter Sougarides tells Bisnow. Peter (here with prez Steve Samuels and financial analyst Damien Chaviano) says the redevelopment of the structure built in 1928 as a Sears Roebuck distribution center is a rare opportunity to replace surface parking with 2.3 acres of open space. (Ultimate Frisbee leagues are ecstatic.) The first big development approved by the BRA under Mayor Walsh adds 550 residences, 110k SF of retail including the city’s first Wegmans grocery store (75k SF), 15k SF of additional office, and underground parking for 1,500 cars. In the 600k SF of existing office, the departure of Blue Cross Blue Shield leaves 350k SF of large floor plate space that will be renovated for open plan offices. The complex at the intersection of Park Drive and Brookline Avenue is designed by Elkus Manfredi.
Construction & Development
New Atlantic Development won a green light from the city to build a $62M, 160-unit residential development in the South End at 600 Harrison Ave where there’s now a parking lot, plus 3,600 SF of ground-floor commercial space and 236 underground parking spaces. Utile is the project architect.
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The Neighborhood of Affordable Housing (NOAH) with Narrow Gate Architecture is developing the $27M Coppersmith Village in East Boston near Maverick Square and the East Boston Waterfront. The two-building complex will replace existing dilapidated industrial buildings with 71 residences, 37 of them affordable.
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Sales
Building its Boston portfolio, DivcoWest paid Related Beal and Rockwood Capital $395M for One Kendall Square, an office, lab, and retail complex in East Cambridge. The nine-building, 670k SF complex includes a 1,500-car garage. Beal and Rockwood bought One Kendall Square for $210.5 M in 2006 and made $64M in improvements. It’s 91% leased by tenants that include Twitter, Semprus BioSciences, Staples, Merrimack Pharmaceuticals, and the Kendall Square Cinema.
Intercontinental Real Estate paid $50.5M to Wood Partners for Alta at Brigham Square, a 116-unit apartment building in Arlington. Wood bought the site with its shuttered Brigham’s Ice Cream manufacturing plant in 2011 for $5.5 M and built the housing. CBRE/NE’s Simon Butler and Biria St John repped the seller and found the buyer.
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Synergy Investments has paid $58M to Lynn-based Oasis Development for 10 Milk St, an 11-story office and retail building in the Financial District that’s 30% vacant. Synergy and partner Green Oak Real Estate acquired the 230k SF building (once valued at $80M-plus) by taking on the defaulted $58M loan originally issued by Merrill Lynch Mortgage Lending.
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Kendall RC paid $10.5M to Taurus Investment Holdings for 22 Batterymarch St where Taurus has its home office. Taurus acquired the 1890’s-era, 35k SF building in 1998 when it was vacant and renovated. It’s now 100% occupied.
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Hilco Real Estate purchased an industrial building at 20 Seyon St in Watertown from Samuels & Associates for an undisclosed price. Its location within the Pleasant Street Corridor Zoning District allows for a variety of uses. CBRE/NE’s Chris Angelone, Bill Moylan, Nick Herz, Bob Gibson, and Rachel Marks repped the seller and found the buyer.
Financing
Jamestown secured $96.3M in financing from Capital One Bank for its purchase of Riverview, at 245 First St in East Cambridge. The two-building, 300k SF property includes an 18-story office tower over a 344-car garage and the six-story Cambridge Science Center.
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RJ Kelly Co secured $19.9M in financing from Cambridge Savings Bank for its $30M acquisition of 10 & 20 Mall Rd in Burlington, a 154k SF two-building, office complex. Cushman & Wakefield’s Jay Wagner arranged the loan for Kelly.
Leasing
Law firm Gunderson Dettmer has taken 27k SF at One Marina Park Dr on Boston’s waterfront in a relo from Waltham. It plans to move to the 19th floor of the 18-story building in the fall.
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Boston Interiors and Carter’s Diamonds & Fine Jewelers have leased about 18k SF and 5,000 SF respectively at Nordblom’s 3rd Ave Burlington in the ‘burb of the same name. Nordblom is developing 3rd Ave as a boulevard lined with green space, restaurants, cafes and boutiques anchored by Wegmans and Kings Bowl.
Trimble Navigation will relo from 6,500 SF in Kendall Square to 19k SF at 1 Merrill St in Woburn. Landlord Cummings Properties’ Maureen Brennan, Tom Grant, and Anna Thompson arranged the lease.
Assignments
Normandy Real Estate Partners has tapped HFF to market a three-building portfolio of properties in Newton and Dedham: the 24k SF Wells Center at 75-95 Wells Ave in Newton and the 90k SF Wells Place, at 57 Wells Ave both in Newton and the 161k SF Dedham Place at Three Allied Dr in Dedham.
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Avison Young principal and director of property management Steve Prozinski says that his New England property management team has been retained by Grander Capital Partners to manage its latest acquisition, the 111k SF at 300 Crown Colony Dr in Quincy.
Suffolk U has hired JLL to market one of its classroom and office buildings, the Fenton Building, on Beacon Hill. The 47k SF facility at the corner of Derne and Hancock streets could be adapted for apartments or condos.
