This Week's Boston Deal Sheet
A Financial District building is the latest office property in Boston to be proposed for a residential conversion.
Charlestown developer Gregory McCarthy submitted plans to convert a seven-story office building at 4 Liberty Square into 42 apartment units, Banker & Tradesman reported. The 28K SF office building has two tenants, one of which has their lease expire within the next 18 months.
McCarthy won approval in September from the Boston Planning Department for two other residential conversion projects in the South End and Bulfinch Triangle. McCarthy doesn't own the building on Liberty Square. It was last sold in 2016 for $12.3M, according to public records.
Since the inception of the city's office-to-residential PILOT program — which gives developers a tax break averaging 75% over 29 years for these projects — it has seen at least 12 proposals totaling more than 540 units.
Mayor Michelle Wu unveiled the program in October 2023 and extended it in June in an effort to both revitalize Boston's downtown and bring in more housing. The program is scheduled to run until December 2025, and the city aims to bring in an additional 300 to 500 proposed housing units.
SALES
The Seyon Group acquired a three-building industrial portfolio at 81-87 and 89-101 York Ave. in Randolph, it announced Monday. It didn't disclose the price, but public records show it was $5.8M. The firm said the portfolio totals 82K SF and is 92.4% occupied by eight tenants. The buildings offer smaller suites of less than 10K SF. The landlord now holds 20 properties in the area totaling roughly 1.2M SF.
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LCOR acquired The Batch Yard multifamily development in Everett for an undisclosed price. The firm bought the 328-unit community in partnership with an affiliate of Tokyo-based NTT Urban Development Corp. The property was an old Charleston Chew candy factory and was developed by Post Road Residential.
FINANCING
MassDevelopment issued a $106M tax-exempt bond for Williams College. The college plans to use the bond to finance several capital projects, including a new art museum and recreation center, implementing the school's energy and carbon master plan, and renovating dormitories and dining halls. The bonds were sold through a public offering with Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC.
PERSONNEL
JLL hired Tom Hovey as director in its Boston office and as part of the Northeast Capital Markets Investment Sales and Advisory team. In his new role, Hovey will work alongside JLL Managing Director Michael Restivo to oversee the team. Hovey previously served as vice president at Atlantic Capital Partners and as a senior associate at CBRE.
CONSTRUCTION & DEVELOPMENT
Office and industrial landlord A.W. Perry filed a proposal to build a 273-unit apartment complex at 373 Second St. and 15 Garden St. The seven-story project is the latest building to be proposed in the city's Commercial Triangle and falls in the city's MBTA Communities zoning district. The company bought the two parcels of land for a combined $5.9M in 2017 and 2021.
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Camber Development and Wheelock Street Capital completed a fully electric 238K SF industrial building in Wilmington. The building, located at 800 Salem St., is the first fully electric industrial building in the state, according to the joint venture. The facility is 20 minutes from downtown Boston and off I-93, Route 128 and I-495. JLL's Brian Tisbert, Christopher Decembrele, Christopher Lawrence and Michael Ciummei represent Camber as the building's leading agent.
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Gilbane Building Co. broke ground on the first phase of Trident Logistics Center, a two-phase, 635K SF industrial complex in Revere. The first phase consists of a 367K SF warehouse set to be completed in late 2025. The project's site was the former home of an oil tank farm that was dismantled and remediated earlier this year.
