This Week's Boston Deal Sheet
Bain & Co., a Boston-based consulting firm, signed a 15-year lease for the top eight floors of the planned 350 Boylston St. office building in the Back Bay, the Boston Business Journal first reported. This marks one of the largest office deals since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic.
The developer, Ron Druker, has been planning the project since 2007, and after his initial approval expired, he refiled plans with the Boston Planning & Development Agency in 2019.
The development will replace the current 118-year-old Shreve Crump & Low building with a nine-story office-and-retail complex with a glass exterior.
The project ran into controversy with preservationists who argued against the demolition of the five-story building, but the Boston Landmark Commission declined to add the building as a landmark in 2006.
SALES
Berkeley Investments sold Graphic Lofts, an apartment building on Cambridge Street in Charlestown, to Denver-based EverWest Real Estate group. The apartment complex sold for $96M, according to deed documents filed Tuesday in Massachusetts land records.
The acquisition is Everwest's sixth property in the Greater Boston area. Others include Campanelli Business Park in Bellingham, Westford Apartments in Westford and Liberty Square in Downtown Boston, according to its website.
Graphic Lofts, a 141K SF, 171-unit apartment complex in Sullivan Square, was completed in 2019. The property, consisting of two lots at 32 and 34 Cambridge St., also has 2,500 SF of retail space on the ground floor.
LEASES
BioMed Realty's South End lab project signed five new leases as it reaches its final stages of construction. PepGen, Pyxis Oncology, Nido Biosciences, Magnet Biomedicine and HilleVax have agreed to lease over 31,600 SF each in the eight-story, 220K SF building. Monte Rosa Therapeutics, a cancer medicine development company, signed a 10-year lease for over 63K SF in the building in December. The project at 321 Harrison Ave. is expected to be ready for tenants later this year.
EXECS
Boylston Properties named Mark Deschenes as its president, the Boston-based firm announced last week. Deschenes joined the company in 1998 and rejoined the firm in 2006 as a principal. Since then, Deschenes has worked with Boylston founding principal Bill McQuillan to drive almost $1B in mixed-use, residential and life sciences projects in the Greater Boston area, the company said. Boylston said it has a pipeline of potential developments planned in Boston, Cambridge, Watertown and Newton.
THIS AND THAT
Greystar will celebrate the beginning of construction Wednesday for a new purpose-built lab and office project in Somerville. The project at 74 Middlesex Ave., branded as 74M, will be a 450K SF, 15-story building in between Assembly Square and East Somerville.
The project is part of a $1.2B joint venture between Greystar and the Canada Pension Investment Board to expand life sciences development in the region. Greystar has also planned a second life sciences project, 96 Middlesex Ave., and it has begun construction on a new neighborhood park at 0 Kensington Ave., directly south of 74M.
A new Cambria Hotel opened last week at 515 Somerville Ave. in Somerville. The six-story, 163-room hotel is located within a 2-mile radius of Harvard University and Union Square. Cambria Hotels partnered with The Noannet Group to develop the hotel, and Saunder Hotel Group will manage the property.
The Davis Cos. began construction on a new ground-up industrial and distribution campus in Wilmington, the developer announced last week. The project at 38 Upton Drive will feature 214K SF of manufacturing, industrial and distribution space across two Class-A buildings. The project will stand on 27 acres of land in Wilmington's commercial district, situated near Route 125 and Interstate 93. The site is planned to be completed by Q1 2023. JLL represented Davis Cos. in the deal.
Mayor Michelle Wu and other public officials celebrated the groundbreaking of Boston's first LGBTQ+-friendly affordable senior housing community in Hyde Park. The Pryde will include 74 units of mixed-income apartments and 10K SF of community space. The community will be housed in the former Barton Rogers School on Everett Street.
The redevelopment is being led by Pennrose and LGBTQ Senior Housing Inc., which plan to preserve the 19th-century building and its two additions from 1920 and 1934. The community will welcome seniors 62 years and older, and all of the units will be deed-restricted in perpetuity.
