This Week’s Boston Deal Sheet
In a major departure, city planners yesterday recommended that the 1,400-space Boston Harbor garage be replaced with a 900k SF, 600 foot tall mixed-use complex that could cost close to $1B to develop.
That's a much larger, taller project than the one endorsed by the Menino Administration (430k SF, 200 feet) but smaller than the one preferred by the property owner, The Chiofaro Co and partner Prudential. Since 2010, CEO Don Chiofaro has been proposing a $1B, 1.3M SF complex for the downtown waterfront site that will take 36 months to build. It's an “incredible opportunity” to sell water views, new technology and a new location, Don has said. (He's holding a bat signed by Ted Williams, Bobby Orr and Dave Cowens). There’s already significant interest in the office and hotel from major international players, he's told us.
After more than one year of planning, the BRA has concluded that it’s an exceptional site that could be developed to eliminate the barrier between the city and the harbor posed by the garage, BRA spokesman Nick Martin tells us. The density and height the city now proposes is feasible from a planning and financial perspective, he says. It’s likely to take a year for a specific plan—probably one submitted by Chiofaro—to get the green light.
Breaking News - Exclusive
King Street Properties plans to break ground by fall on a $42M, 94k SF lab building on spec, partner Tom Ragno (right, with partner Steve Lynch) tells Bisnow. The state-of-the-art, LEED certifiable life science lab will be the final building in King Street’s Science/Lexington lab complex that’s now 100% occupied.
Why now? Lab rents have increased 40% since King Street started the Lexington campus in 2010, Tom says. Lenders are open to financing the project and are already calling the company, which will work with HFF to secure a construction loan. Some Science/Lexington tenants are growing, such as T2 BioSystems and Quanterix. For the spec building, the architect is DiMella Shaffer, and GC will be BW Kennedy.
Development
The Abbey Group and Mayor Marty Walsh yesterday cut the ceremonial ribbon at the grand opening for the $200M, 342-apartment Viridian on Boylston Street in the Fenway. The new mid-rise also includes 10k SF of retail and the Fenway Community Center.
***
JW Capital Partners plans to revitalize Lewis Wharf by replacing the existing dilapidated pilings and parking lot with almost 2.5 acres of public open space, a new 300-key luxury hotel and more public pedestrian access to the waterfront. The design is by Albert, Righter & Tittmann Architects; the GC is John Moriarty & Associates.
***
Boston Residential Group is redeveloping the former Boston Wharf building at 319 A St into 48 loft condos. The new Fort Point units will feature modern kitchens, baths and living areas but retain the 100-year-old building’s soaring windows, high ceilings, natural light, exposed brick and beams.
The Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center officially opened Dana-Farber’s 50k SF Molecular Cancer Imaging Facility in the Seaport District adjacent to Dana-Farber’s Lurie Family Imaging Center. The Massachusetts Life Sciences Center invested $10M in the project that features the only cyclotron in Massachusetts dedicated entirely to cancer research. The work at the imaging facility focuses on improving cancer diagnosis and developing precision drugs matched to individual patients. Ribbon cutters: Medical Director of the Boston Public Health Commission Dr. Huy Nguyen, MLSC VP Angus McQuilken, Chief Scientific Officer at Dana-Farber Dr. Barrett Rollins, Dana-Farber President and CEO Dr. Edward Benz.
***
Affiliates of Condyne Investment Fund II of Braintree and New York-based Square Mile Capital Management are developing a new $49M, 450k SF distribution for the Potpourri Group, a multi-channel direct-to-consumer retailer. Completion is slated for the first half of 2016.
***
Eden Properties and Samuels & Associates are planning to renovate and expand the Goddard House in Jamaica Plain into 169 units of housing, parking and open space. No development cost was available.
Sale
An affiliate of Artemis Real Estate paid $36M for the 392k SF manufacturing facility at 112 Barnum Rd in Devens from a JV of Calare Properties and Hackman Capital Partners, which paid $8.5M in 2012. The property, was built in 2010 and once housed the failed Evergreen Solar. It's now fully leased to Saint-Gobain Ceramics, a division of the French multinational manufacturing conglomerate, and healthcare supplies manufacturer Nypro. CBRE’s Bill Moylan, Robert Gibson and John Meador repped Hackman and Calare.
Leasing
Amazon has agreed to lease 97k SF at 201 Beacham St in Everett for use as a distribution facility. Cushman & Wakefield repped the tenants and Burgess Properties, the landlord, an affiliate of the Sheehan Family Cos.
People
Veteran Boston retail broker Ted Chryssicas, the head of Colliers retail services division since 1997, has joined Newmark Grubb Knight Frank with his five-broker retail team. They covered markets from Portland to Providence.
***
Tenant rep Cresa has named Richard Rhodes as CEO. Richard also serves as the managing principal of the firm’s DC office. In addition, he had been the Cresa chairman since 2013. As CEO, Rich succeeds Jim Leslie, former president of The Staubach Co. Other new appointments include: Matthew Feeney as chairman, Judi Hilton as COO and Matthew Miller as vice chairman.
Community
The Cummings Foundation, the creation of developer/landlord Bill Cummings and his wife, Joyce, surpassed $100M in grants to Greater Boston nonprofits as it completed its grant cycle for this year. Recipients work in a variety of areas: underserved populations, education, healthcare, hunger relief and homelessness prevention.
