This Week's Boston Deal Sheet
In a rare Boston office sale, Synergy Investments acquired a downtown property for 17% less than what the previous owner paid.
The investment firm bought the 13-story, 157K SF One Liberty Square office building for $45M, brokerage firm Newmark announced Monday. The sale price was roughly $9M less than the $54.4M Clarion Partners bought it for in 2013, the Boston Globe reported.
“We believe in the asset class long-term,” Synergy CEO David Greaney told the Globe. “It’s a really tricky time out there right now.”
The Class-B office building sits between 70% and 80% occupied, with tenants including transit management firm Alternative Co., Melick & Porter LLP and Crestwood Advisors.
The deal also marks the largest office sale completed in Downtown Boston since the first quarter of 2022, according to Newmark. At the end of last month, another office property traded hands when Nuveen sold 7 Post Office Square to Miami-based Azora Exan for $41M.
Newmark's Robert Griffin, Edward Maher, Matthew Pullen, Samantha Hallowell and William Sleeper represented Clarion and Synergy in the deal.
SALES
Two flex properties in Franklin were sold to Investcorp and Jumbo Capital for $37.5M, Colliers announced Monday. The investor bought the two properties totaling 206K SF at 25 and 40 Kenwood Circle. Tenants in the building include The Dog's Pace, Resh Inc. and Next9Up. Colliers' Frank Petz, Matthew Sherry, Rob Schlesinger and Jack Barrett represented the seller, the Franchi family.
FINANCING
MassHousing provided $14.5M in refinancing to the Charles H. Farnsworth Senior Housing Corp., the owner and developer of the 76-unit Farnsworth House. The development is planned to serve older adults at 90 South St. in Jamaica Plain. The financing will go toward renovating the property and extending the affordability of units for at least 24 years.
The improvements planned include new lobby furniture, a roof replacement, parking lot refurbishment, a new security camera system and the replacement of the emergency generator.
PERSONNEL
The Chiofaro Co. added four new team members in its newest efforts to expand operations. The company hired Ryan Barrett, Katherine Shields, Jesicka Labud and Mario Almeida. Barrett will join as a leasing associate, Shields will join as a marketing associate, Labud will join as a senior project manager and Almeida will join as an assistant controller.
The hires come after the company announced a $100M reinvestment into International Place, including a new amenity floor and updated lobbies, in an effort to help the building compete with Boston's newer offerings.
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Law firm Nixon Peabody expanded its real estate practice by hiring real estate finance attorney Kristen Fallon. Fallon will join the firm's Boston office and represent financial institutions, REITs and funds. Before joining Nixon Peabody, Fallon served as a partner of the Boston-based firm Riemer & Braunstein, and before that she served as counsel at Robinson & Cole, according to her LinkedIn page.
CONSTRUCTION & DEVELOPMENT
The Archdiocese of Boston and its partner St. Francis House filed plans to redevelop the former Constitution Inn hotel in Charlestown into 100 affordable apartments, with 52 units designated for households making an annual income of $30K to $83K, the Boston Globe first reported.
The other 48 units will have a supportive housing component and on-site professional services for eligible residents. The supportive housing will be reserved for households headed by women or veterans. The hotel is operated by the YMCA of Greater Boston, and the land it sits on is owned by the Boston Planning & Development Agency. The YMCA plans to remain at the hotel under a leaseback agreement.
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Owners of a Roxbury office building proposed to develop two multifamily buildings totaling 140 units on adjacent surface parking lots. Yonathan Halperin and Jacob Aaron Amsterdam-Vance, under the entity 10 MX Owner LLC, filed plans with the Boston Planning & Development Agency for the property at 6-10 Malcolm X Blvd. and 80 Dudley St., which they bought for $13.5M in 2022.
The owners plan to keep the existing tenants in the 34K SF office building, including the Social Security Administration. The two new multifamily buildings will be built on 27K SF of surface parking lots, with one 115-unit building on Malcolm X Boulevard and another 25-unit building on Dudley Street.
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Two development teams are scheduled to deliver pitches for a city-owned parcel on Austin Street in Charlestown. Dream Collaborative and Roxbury-based Onyx Group submitted plans for a six-building, 757-unit development, Banker & Tradesman reported. The other plan, submitted by Trinity Financial, calls for 146 market-rate apartments, 246 income-restricted rentals, 128 market-rate condos and 166 income-restricted condos.
The city opened a request for proposals for the Austin Street parking lots in May and closed submissions on July 10. The presentations will take place Sept. 20.
