This Week's Boston Deal Sheet
Beacon Capital Partners is moving forward with the second phase of its South Boston Innovation Campus in the Seaport.
The Boston-based investment firm filed plans with the Boston Planning & Development Agency for a 321K SF, 10-story development at 4 Harbor St., the Banker & Tradesman first reported. The project would be built in the Raymond L. Flynn Marine Park.
The developer broke ground on the first phase in September 2022 as part of a bigger 3M SF life sciences campus proposed by Beacon's joint venture with MP Boston, which was later scaled back. MP Boston isn't involved with the newest proposal.
The first phase of the project at 2 Harbor St., a 381K SF lab building, is near completion and there have yet to be any tenants announced at the building.
This latest proposal comes as Greater Boston has seen a dramatic slowdown in life sciences leasing activity. At the end of 2023, the market saw a total vacancy of 21.2%, according to JLL, up from 9.9% at the beginning of last year.
SALES
Boston Pinnacle Properties' Adam Burns on Friday acquired 281 Frankin St. in downtown Boston for $3.8M, according to public records. Burns said in December he had an agreement in place to buy the property after filing a proposal to convert the six-story, 13K SF office building into residential space as part of Mayor Michelle Wu's tax break program, the Boston Business Journal reported. The project includes converting 11K SF of the building into 15 residential units and a ground-floor restaurant. Burns bought the property from Newton-based Rincon Development, which acquired it in 2017 for $6.1M.
LEASES
Life sciences company BPGbio Inc. signed a 70K SF lease at 300 Third Ave. in Waltham. The company plans to relocate its headquarters from Framingham and will occupy two full floors at the Waltham location in June 2025. Lincoln Property Co.’s Tim Latham, Christopher Scott and Chris Devaux represented the owner, a partnership between LPC and a client of Metlife Investment Management. Cresa Boston's Paul Delaney, Adam Subber, and Nate Heilbron represented the tenant.
PERSONNEL
Steven Farrell was named executive director of the Fenway Community Development Corp., replacing the retiring Leah Camhi. Before this, Farrell held roles as chief operating officer at Metro Housing/Boston and development director at Boston Private Industry Council, according to his LinkedIn page. Farrell was selected based on his experience in strategic planning, management, fundraising and public engagement.
CONSTRUCTION & DEVELOPMENT
Wentworth Institute of Technology filed a proposed Institutional Masterplan that would add roughly 1,400 dorm beds and new academic buildings to its campus, the Boston Business Journal reported. The plan includes two new dorm buildings on Huntington Avenue and one dorm building with a new athletics field house.
The university also plans to build Wentworth’s School of Architecture and Design and renovate Wentworth Hall to include a 20K SF welcome center and 111K SF athletics field house.
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Jumbo Capital completed the renovation of a 136K SF advanced manufacturing facility at 30 Dan Road in Canton. Jumbo's Brooke Duskin led the project. The development sits on 10 acres and includes 34-foot clear heights, four loading docks and 6,400 amps of power.
The property began redevelopment in July 2022 and was funded in part by Jumbo and funds affiliated with Apollo Global Management. Colliers' Kevin Hanna and Kevin Brawley are seeking a new tenant on behalf of the owners Jumbo and Apollo.
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Jefferson Apartment Group completed its 168-unit J Woburn Heights development in Woburn. It built the apartment complex through a joint venture with SpringHarbor Financial Group. The complex has a mix of one- and two-bedroom units with 42 units designated affordable at 80% of the area median income. This is the newest apartment development in JAG's Greater Boston portfolio, which includes J VUE at the LMA in Boston, J Highlands at Hudson in Hudson and J Malden Center in Malden.
