This Week's Boston Deal Sheet
Boston has seen yet another office sale at a steep discount, this time in the Leather District.
Boston-based City Realty acquired a 73K SF office building at 186 Lincoln St. for $11M, about 46% less than the property sold for in 2015, the company announced in a release Thursday. City Realty bought the building from real estate firm Brickman, which had acquired it for $20.7M.
The building has 30K SF available, with tenants including CozyKin, SmartSense by Digi, Full Contact Advertising and Mightier, the Boston Globe reported. City Realty plans a $1M renovation to hopefully attract more tenants. The improvements include bike repair and storage facilities, a fitness room and a tenant common space.
City Realty said it doesn't plan to convert the building into residential space, an effort that Mayor Michelle Wu has been pushing for older Class-B office landlords.
“Our goal is always to be the best option for tenants looking for space in our neighborhoods,” City Realty managing partner Steve Whalen said in a statement. “By being flexible and responsive to tenants’ needs, we seek to form long term, mutually beneficial partnerships.”
The sale is the newest in a string of office deals that are starting to show the reality of office valuations in the city. Earlier this month, Kendall Capital bought 33-41 West St. for $4.1M from Dedham-based Bay Management Corp., a 74% discount. In September, Synergy Investments acquired the One Liberty Square office building for $45M, $9M less than what Clarion Partners bought it for in 2013.
SALES
Government contracting company Stahl USA sold its corporate office at 13 Corwin St. in Peabody for $8.4M to an unnamed contractor. The 120K SF, three-building facility is spread across 6 acres and will be occupied by the new owner, according to a release from Avison Young. Avison Young's Jason Levendusky and Bill Sullivan represented the seller.
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The Boston Park Plaza hotel traded hands from Sunstone Hotel Investors to Parks Hospitality Holdings for $370M and the buyer has rebranded it as the Hilton Boston Park Plaza. The property is the second U.S. hotel for Mexico City-based Parks Hospitality Holdings, alongside a Hyatt hotel in Colorado.
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Car dealer Dan Quirk bought a 126K SF office building in Braintree for $8.7M at an auction, approximately half the price the previous owner paid, Banker & Tradesman reported. The auto dealer bought the Braintree Executive Park at 100-150 Grossman Drive from an affiliate of Boston-based Albany Road Real Estate Partners. Albany bought the property for $17.2M in 2013.
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Newton-based Mark Development is transferring ownership of its 295-unit The Dunstan Residences project in West Newton to New Jersey-based Garden Homes, the Boston Business Journal reported. The project has not been built yet, and the terms of the deal weren't disclosed. The development firm cited difficulties starting construction as one of the reasons for selling the project.
LEASES
Lendlease announced it secured full retail occupancy at its 555K SF Clippership Wharf mixed-use project in East Boston. Café Iterum, The Smoke Shop and Mida signed leases of a combined 8K SF at the development's ground floor. Italian restaurant Mida is taking 3K SF, barbecue restaurant The Smoke Shop is taking 4K SF and Café Iterum signed a 1K SF deal.
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BTU International signed a 57K SF, 10-year lease at 10 Lyberty Way in Westford. BTU plans to depart its 123K SF at 23 Esquire Road in Billerica. The mixed-use Westford building includes office and manufacturing space. BTU sold its office property in Billerica to Marcus Partners in June 2022 for $20.6M, according to property records.
Avison Young’s Michael Dalton, Jason Levendusky and Jay Carnevale represented BTU in the deal. Avison Young's Brandon Needleman, Conor Stuhrcke and Lindsey Head will provide project management services to the firm as it builds out its headquarters.
CONSTRUCTION & DEVELOPMENT
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu cut the ribbon on the city's new archaeology lab at the City of Boston Archival Center at 201 Rivermoor St. in West Roxbury. The 4K SF facility includes two processing labs, an artificial digitizing lab, scanners, printers, photography equipment and an artifact repository of over 1 million artifacts.
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Boston Global Investors celebrated the completion of its 10 World Trade Center structure in a topping-off celebration Thursday. The 555K SF, 17-story office and lab building is set to be completed at the end of 2024. The project broke ground in April 2022.
