This Week’s Boston Deal Sheet: New Berkeley-Invesco JV Acquires Suburban Industrial Portfolio
Berkeley Partners and Invesco Real Estate have launched a new joint venture targeting industrial assets, and they are seeding it with a four-property portfolio in Greater Boston.
The JV paid $45M for four properties in the Route 128 belt, according to property records. Berkeley previously owned the buildings on its own, and the deal represents a recapitalization of the assets.
The portfolio consists of 217K SF at 244 Vanderbilt Ave. in Norwood, 23 Rainin Road in Woburn, and 33 and 37 Manning Road in Billerica. It was purchased with a five-year, floating-rate acquisition loan through BMO Bank, according to property records.
The portfolio is leased to seven tenants in advanced manufacturing, aerospace and aviation technology, according to a press release Monday from JLL Capital Markets. JLL's Michael Restivo, Andrew Gray, David Coffman, Brett Paulsrud, Hugh Doherty and Ali Howard brokered the deal and secured Invesco as a partner to Berkeley.
The JV plans to expand by buying tough tech and advanced manufacturing assets across the Boston and San Francisco markets, where it sees growing demand for "superflex" product, according to JLL's release.
SALES
MSD Partners acquired the 36-story One Lincoln office tower in downtown Boston for $400M in a foreclosure auction. The auction attracted no bidders, allowing MSD Partners, the lender, to submit a credit bid for the property. The property is anchored by HarbourVest Partners, which took up 250K SF at the 1.1M SF office tower. WeWork is another notable tenant. The property ran into issues after landlord Fortis Property Group failed to make payments on its $1B refinancing loan because of low occupancy.
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Manchester, New Hampshire-based investor Ed Flammia bought 337 Newbury St. for $9.4M from seller Asana Partners, according to property records. The property sold for roughly 30% more than its 2019 price of $7.2M. The property is a vacant two-story building across the street from Trident Booksellers & Cafe and nearby Uniqlo.
LEASES
Biogen signed a 585K SF lease at the 75 Broadway St. development in Cambridge. Construction on the 16-story project is slated to begin this year, and the biotech company plans to move into the building in 2028 as its global headquarters. It is the first building in the 10-acre Kendall Common mixed-use project, which is being developed by BioMed and MIT Investment Management Co. The project is planned to comprise 3M SF across eight buildings.
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Autism therapy provider InBloom Autism Services opened a 10K SF early intervention therapy center at Cummings Properties' 12 Gill St. in Woburn. The provider relocated its office from Constitution Way in Woburn. InBloom operates more than 25 autism treatment centers across the country. Other tenants in the building include NuPath, RCS Behavioral & Educational Consulting, Seem Collaborative, Thom Mystic Valley Early Intervention and Youth Villages.
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Triton Systems signed an 11K SF lease at 250 Apollo Drive in Chelmsford. The property is a two-story, 143K SF building that was constructed in 1986 and was renovated in 2020. Amenities include a full-service cafeteria, fitness center and outdoor patio. Hunneman's Chris Curley, Ken Oppenheim and Mike Allen represented the landlord, CKM Real Estate, in the transaction.
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Advisor360 signed a six-year, 83K SF lease at U.S. Realty Advisors' 400 First Ave. in Needham. The company plans to move its corporate headquarters to the building, with 60% of its workforce stationed there, Commercial Property Executive reported. JLL's Christopher Decembrele brokered the lease. The building is also home to TripAdvisor's corporate headquarters.
FINANCING
MassHousing awarded $185K in grant funding to four nonprofit organizations to create and preserve affordable sober housing in Massachusetts. The grants come from the Center for Community Recovery Innovations, a nonprofit subsidiary of MassHousing. Recipients of the grants are EMH Recovery, Housing Support Inc., NeighborWorks Housing Solutions and Recovered Souls Foundation. The housing is planned in Brockton, Amesbury, Hanson and Quincy.
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Commercial mortgage banking firm Gantry secured a $30M refinancing loan for a 101K SF medical office building in Somerville. The property is 100% leased, with a majority of it occupied by Atrius Health. The building at 40 Holland St. is known as Davis Square Center.
CONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT
Federal Realty Investment Trust filed a proposal for a 318-unit housing development in Somerville, Banker & Tradesman reported. The eight-story project would occupy 1.4 acres in its Assembly Row planned development area. The 383K SF project would be located at 375 Harold Cohen Way, which was once home to Ford Motor Co. and then a strip mall. It would include 13K SF of ground-floor retail.
