This Week's Boston Deal Sheet
Retail real estate firm The Wilder Cos. purchased a shopping mall in the Boston suburb of Walpole for $71M.
The 429K SF Walpole Mall has a number of national retailers, including Kohl's, Aldi, LA Fitness, PetSmart and Barnes & Noble. It also has eight standalone buildings that house 14 tenants, including Five Guys, Panera, Taco Bell, Aspen Dental and Texas Roadhouse.
Atlantic Capital Partners Head of Capital Markets Justin Smith, along with Chris Peterson, Sam Koonce and Danielle Donovan, represented the seller, RP Realty Partners LLC.
“This established shopping center, made up of category-leading brands and service-oriented outparcels, has resulted in unmatched consumer traffic and proven tenant performance, making the Walpole Mall one of the strongest retail centers in the submarket,” Smith said in a statement.
Wilder has over 40 shopping centers in 10 states, according to its website. Notable properties include Arsenal Yards in Watertown, Rock Row in Maine and Silver Spring Square in Pennsylvania.
SALES
Marcus Partners sold a six-building industrial portfolio for $167M to Westbrook Partners. The portfolio consists of three buildings in Franklin — 176, 206 and 210 Grove St. — as well as buildings at 1 First Ave. in Peabody, 17 Gilmore Drive in Sutton, and 57 Littlefield Ave. in Avon. Marcus developed 206 Grove St. and assembled the rest of the portfolio between 2019 and 2021. CBRE's Chris Skeffington, Scott Dragos and Roy Sandeman represented Marcus Partners in the deal.
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Rhino Capital Advisors acquired two fully leased office and lab buildings in Andover for $58M. The purchase comprises 145K SF at 50 Minuteman Road, the United States headquarters of tech company Mercury, and 128K SF at 6 Technology Drive, home to the medical manufacturing company Dräger. Newmark's Robert Griffin, Edward Maher, Matthew Pullen and Samantha Hallowell represented the seller, Peakstone Realty Trust.
LEASES
Tech company Gentex signed a 12K SF lease at 320 Norwood Park S in Norwood, Boston Real Estate Times reported. The 40K SF property was acquired by Brave Dog Properties last year and is 75% leased. R.W. Holmes’ Elizabeth Holmes and Mike Fahy represented Brave Dog Properties in the transaction, and The Stevens Group's Amanda Snell represented Gentex.
FINANCING
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu awarded $2.8M in grants to 24 small businesses to help expand into vacant storefronts across the city, part of an effort to bring more foot traffic to the downtown area.
The grants were funded with American Rescue Plan funding through the Support Pandemic Affected Community Enterprises Grant. The 24 recipients will receive between $40K and $200K over three years, depending on individual business needs.
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MassHousing provided $14M in affordable housing financing to the Lowell Housing Authority for the refinancing and rehabilitation of the 130-unit Jaycee Place housing community in Lowell. The financing will allow $8M in renovations to be made to the community, which houses lower-income senior citizens.
The project includes fully renovated kitchens and bathrooms, a new energy-efficient boiler system, new windows, a new roof, common-area amenity upgrades and seven new housing units.
CONSTRUCTION & DEVELOPMENT
MassBio broke ground on its 4K SF Bioversity workforce training center at Beacon Capital Partners' Southline development in Dorchester. The center is set to open in January 2024 with plans to graduate its first 100 students next year into entry-level jobs in life sciences.
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Seyon Group proposed a 95K SF, 5-acre lab project in Watertown, Banker and Tradesman reported. The adaptive reuse project will renovate the light industrial space into lab, research and development, and manufacturing space, and it will include facade improvements. Seyon purchased the site at 10-30 Manley Way for $30.9M in 2020.
PERSONNEL
The Davis Cos. appointed Mai Zhang as senior vice president of asset management. Zhang will lead the company's multifamily portfolio, including direct and joint venture investments.
Before joining Davis, Zhang spent the past 10 years at real estate investment trust JBG Smith. His most recent role was senior vice president of asset management. Zhang also held a role at PricewaterhouseCoopers as an associate of structured products and real estate for two years.
