This Week's Boston Deal Sheet
Boylston Properties, the real estate firm developing 400K SF of life sciences space at the Arsenal Yards shopping center in Watertown, has launched a new property management arm.
The company brought on Robyn Duffy from JLL to serve as director of property management for the new arm, Boylston Properties Management Co., it announced Thursday. Duffy worked at JLL as a group manager since 2019, managing 800K SF of lab, medical office and industrial space.
Boylston has fully leased the first 108K SF life sciences building at Arsenal Yards to three tenants. Another 300K SF of lab space is scheduled to deliver in two additional buildings by this fall, and it will accommodate seven life sciences tenants.
The firm's new property management arm will also oversee several retail properties in Boston and Needham.
SALES
Boston-based developer Berkeley Investments acquired 18 acres in Billerica from Cabot Corp. with plans to develop a 200K SF purpose-built Good Manufacturing Practice facility. JLL marketed the site on behalf of Cabot, which will continue to operate its flagship R&D facility on the adjacent parcel.
The land sits on Concord Road next to the Middlesex Turnpike. The town has become an emerging market for biomanufacturing, as it sits less than a half-hour drive from Boston and Cambridge.
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TA Realty acquired nine grocery store-anchored shopping centers in the Greater Boston and Providence areas for a combined $390M. The firm bought the centers from Gravestar, which owned the portfolio since 1994. Newmark's Paul Penman, Geoffrey Millerd, Robert Griffin, Jonathan Martin and Richard Ruggiero worked on the deals.
LEASES
Aura Biosciences Inc. has leased 30K SF of office and lab space at 80 Guest St. in Brighton from Ice Box LLC, according to documents filed Wednesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The building, featuring 220K SF of lab space, is part of the Boston Landing mixed-use development.
The lease is scheduled to start in August with an initial term of 10 years, according to the SEC filing. It will start at $3.1M for the first year and will increase on a yearly basis by 3% plus any additional costs, taxes and operating expenses, according to the filing.
Aura is based at 85 Bolton St. in Cambridge, according to its website. The life sciences company closed an $80M financing round last year that it said will help it develop a new class of targeted therapies for life-threatening cancers.
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Vertex Pharmaceuticals signed a full-building lease with Related Beal for a seven-story, 344K SF life sciences facility in the Seaport. The building at 22 Drydock is the second building Vertex will occupy at the developer's Innovation Square Campus. The second building, a 269K SF research and development facility, opened last week.
Both buildings are named after Vertex’s former CEO and current executive chairman, Jeffrey Leiden. The second building is expected to open in 2025. Vertex in 2014 moved its headquarters to the Seaport in a 1.1M SF building in Fan Pier.
FINANCING
MassHousing closed on $15.2M in financing to Boston-based nonprofit Preservation of Affordable Housing to refinance a 104-unit apartment complex in Randolph, it announced Tuesday. The community, Bridle Path Apartments, contains 104 units that cater to lower-income families and seniors. The financing will help to extend the affordability of the units for at least 32 years.
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MassDevelopment and BankFive reached a deal to provide an $11.9M loan to Standard Holdings LLC to develop a 72K SF, 53-unit mixed-income apartment complex at 850 Falmouth Road in Hyannis. Standard Holdings is owned by former Bank of Cape Cod CEO Timothy Teman and real estate developer Robert Carleton.
The complex, named Residence at 850, is planned to consist of 43 market-rate units and 10 affordable units rented to households that make no more than 50% of the area median income. MassDevelopment said it will provide $6M, and BankFive will lend the other $5.9M.
THIS AND THAT
Wentworth Institute of Technology selected Huntington Development Group to build a 640K SF mixed-use project at 500 Huntington Ave. The project is planned to have retail, restaurant and life sciences space along with publicly accessible open space for the community, students and faculty. HDG is a joint venture of The Fallon Co., Owens Cos. and Waldin Development Co.
