The Deal Sheet
| In a step that could mark the start of a $2B expansion of the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center, the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority paid $33M to Intercontinental Real Estate for nearly six acres of land near the South Boston center. | |
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| The parcel is intended for hotel developmen t, says MCCA executive director James Rooney. The D Street site would support two hotels with up to 500 rooms and was acquired as a “friendly taking.” There are 1,700 hotel rooms within walking distance of the exhibit hall, which isn't much compared to 8,000 in San Diego and nearly 11,000 in Orlando. | |
| CONSTRUCTION & DEVELOPMENT | |
| Forest City and the Hudson Group broke ground Friday on a $130M, 240-unit rental apartment tower at 120 Kingston St, the former Dainty Dot hosiery building site on the Greenway at the edge of Chinatown. The 26-story tower will include 4,500 SF of retail, 2,000 SF of outdoor space and a donation for the development of new affordable housing units in Chinatown. Suffolk Construction is the CM.*** Mechanic’s Hall in Worcester, a 155-year-old auditorium, is slated for a $300k renovation. The project for the nonprofit will be financed with various grants including: $100k from The Stoddard Charitable Trust, $75k from the George and Sybil Fuller Foundation, and $75k from the Mass Cultural Council and MassDevelopment. | |
| FINANCINGInstitutional investors advised by JPMorgan Asset Management are spending $215M to recapitalize Network Drive at Northwest Park in Burlington for the Nordblom Co, which originally acquired the property with CarVal. Eastdil Secured’s James McCaffrey and Sarah Lagosh repped Nordblom, the seller, and found the new partner. The 158-acre office park, near the intersection of Routes 128 and 3, has six buildings with 805k SF of rentable space and can accommodate up to another 330k SF of new space. Nordblom will continue to manage the property.*** HFF’s Anthony Cutone and Porter Terry arranged a $170M construction loan for One Channel Center, a 500k SF office building leased entirely to State Street Corp and being developed by AREA Property Partners and Commonwealth Ventures in the Seaport District. The project broke ground this past summer and is slated for delivery in early 2014. One Channel Center is part of the larger Channel Center project, a 2M SF mixed-use development of offices, residences, and retail. | |
| LEASING Merrimack Pharmaceuticals is expanding its lab and office space by 25k SF at One Kendall Square, Building 700, in Cambridge to bring its total occupancy there to 109k SF. Colliers’Joe Flaherty, Jim Elcock, Tucker Hansen and Ben Coffin repped Merrimack and Colliers will manage the TI. Cassidy Turley FHO’s J. Duncan Gratton repped the landlord, The Beal Companies.*** Pall Corp has leased 113k SF of office/lab space at 20 Walkup Dr in Westborough in a relo and expansion. Cushman & Wakefield’s Stephen Woelfel, Michael Frisoli, and J.R. McDonald repped the tenant. Colliers repped the landlord, Alexandria Real Estate Equities. *** Sepaton renewed its 31.5k SF lease at 400 Nickerson Rd in Marlborough Technology Park in the I-495 West submarket. Cassidy Turley FHO’s Joe Fallon and Kevin Hanna repped the tenant. *** The Bulfinch Companies hired Richards Barry Joyce & Partners to lease Atrium Center at Chestnut Hill. In July, Bulfinch purchased the former luxury mall, which it will redevelop into a 286k SF office and medical center. On the job for RBJ is Robert Richards, Jon Varholak, Ron Friedman and Chris McCauley. | |
| EXECUTIVE MOVES Lina Storm joined Berkeley Point Capital as its national head of marketing. She’ll be based in Boston and will be responsible for developing and managing the overall strategic marketing program for the firm that has a $29B servicing portfolio. She previously was director of marketing operations for John Hancock/Manulife, Boston.*** The Winn Companies have brought on Elissa O’Brien as SVP of human resources and training for its national organization with a HQ in Faneuil Hall. Prior to joining Winn, Elissa was director of corporate HR for Steward Health Care System and also worked for Wingate Healthcare in Needham. |
