The resurgence of Downtown Crossing continues with the City’s approval of Chicago-based Walton Oxford Temple’s $60M plan to redevelop two historic buildings—including 59 Temple Place— into a boutique hotel with a restaurant, retail space and a spa. |
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The Boston Redevelopment Authority gave the green light recently for the plan that will preserve and protect the historic 11-story Blake Building at 59-63 Temple Place and the six-story Amory Building at 501-507 Washington St. The development team includes owner/developer Walton Oxford Temple; design consultant Gettys; legal counsel Goodwin Procter; permitting consultant Epsilon Association; development consultant Exclusive Real Estate; and transporation consultant Howard/Stein-Hudson Associates. |
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The Related Companies and The Beal Companies won city approval to add 187k SF of offices to their redevelopment of Lovejoy Wharf downtown between the Zakim and Charlestown bridges. The renovated and expanded property will also include:100 housing units, 45k SF of ground-floor retail, a 300-seat café-style restaurant, a 2,000 SF visitor’s center with 43k SF of new open space along the waterfront and 315 parking spaces. |
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SALES |
Aethenahealth will pay $168M to Harvard University for the "Arsenal on the Charle" in Watertown, an 11-building, 760k SF property. Harvard purchased the property in ’01 for $163M. aethenahealth, a cloud-based services provider to medical and healthcare companies, occupies 330k SF at the historic complex where it’s had its HQ since ’05. The company will take over the 100k SF of vacant space. Avison Young’s Steve Cook repped aethenahealth, which hopes to close the deal Q2,’13***Chestnut Hill Realty’s $85M acquisition of Grandview Terrace and Grandview Village in Framingham adds 581 apartments to the 4,500-unit portfolio that it owns and manages in the metro area and Rhode Island. The seller is New York-based Guardian, the financial services and insurance company that foreclosed on the property in ‘09 *** |
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Fairfield Indian Woods purchased Alta at Indian Woods in Stoughton from a JV of Wood Partners and an institutional investor for $27.5M. The 154-apartment community built in '10 includes 25% affordable housing. CBRE Northeast partners Simon Butler and Biria St. John repped the seller and found the buyer.FINANCING O’Connor Capital Partners has secured $62.3M in construction financing for The Residences at Fresh Pond from RBS Citizens. HFF’s Riaz Cassum led the team that arranged the financing for the 428-unit multifamily project near the Alewife MBTA station and Fresh Pond in West Cambridge that will be built in two phases. Phase 1 will have 260 units and 251 parking spaces, and Phase 2, 168 units and 151 parking spaces. The one- and two-bedroom apartments will average 873 SF. *** The Community Builders won a $29.5M federal gran t for its multi-faceted project to help redevelop Cincinnati’s Avondale neighborhood. The Boston-based Community Builders, the nation’s largest nonprofit developer of mixed income housing, has a plan to renovate and build new a total of 318-apartments; establish new programs for healthy living, job training and education in the neighborhood. LEASING Zipcar will become another Cambridge refugee with its relo into 46k SF at 35 Thomson Pl in the Seaport. Cresa Boston repped the tenant. Margulies Perruzzi Architects will provide interior and corporate design services. *** |
Mimecast leased 34k SF at the Riverworks, 480 Pleasant St in Watertown from landlord Farley White in a relo from the Watch Factory in Waltham. JLL’s Daniel Kollar, Brendan Cohn, and Peter Bekarian repped the landlord and Cassidy Turley's Brian Hines and Ryan Romano negotiated for the tenant.*** |
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MarketOne International leased 22k SF at 610 Lincoln St in Waltham in a HQ relo from 5 Clock Tower Place in Maynard. Cassidy Turley’s John Boyle and Connor Barnes repped the tenant; Wyman Street Advisors Chip Batchelder repped the landlord, Hobbs Brook Management.*** |
Acacia Communications signed a 28k SF, 4.5-year lease at Clock Tower Place in Maynard, an expansion from 18k SF. Landlord Wellesley Rosewood Maynard Mills was repped by AJAX Partners'Bob Macnamara and the tenant by Avison Young’s Jack Kerrigan. |
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Commodore Builders CEO Joe Albanes e tells us that 22 new employees will join his firm on Jan. 4 as part of Commodore’s acquisition of veteran construction firm AJ Martini of Winchester. The new staff, and their experience, will enhance the Newton-based firm’s capacity to do larger projects and enter new parts of the industry. Among its many projects, Martini renovated Faneuil Hall, the old State House and Harvard’s Memorial Hall. |
EXECUTIVE MOVES |
The Builders Association of Greater Boston has chosen Gerry-Lynn Darcy as executive director of the trade association affiliated with the NAHB and the Homes Builders Association of Massachusetts. Gerry-Lynn, who has over 16 years of experience in the real estate and construction industry, most recently was VP of marketing and business development at Metric Construction. |