Breaking News: The Deal Sheet
After nearly two decades, leases from Natixis and Bloomingdale’s make it feasible to build out the last development site in the 22-acre Prudential Center, with the Boston Properties' $200M 888 Boylston St, sources tell us. (In solidarity, we'll finish the Lego houses we started in the '80s, assuming Mom didn't throw them out.)
Bloomingdale’s lease is so valuable, it will “underwrite and unlock” the Natixis space, one source says. Back in the '90s, when Prudential still owned the mixed-use complex, it planned an office building at the site. In ’98, Boston Properties acquired the Pru Center. Prior to the recession, it won city approval for a 440k SF, 17-story tower at 888. Now, it’s eager to pull the trigger on what might be 369k SF of office and up to 100k SF of retail. The 100k SF-plus office lease with Natixis Global Asset Management alone might not have done the trick, but combined with Bloomies, sources tell us the new Back Bay tower is a go.
For Natixis, which currently leases offices at 399 Boylston St, between Arlington and Berkeley streets, the new building at 888 has the “wow factor" for which some companies will pay higher rent, says McCall & Almy partner David Richardson. While Back Bay has some of Boston’s highest rents and lowest vacancy, that will change with Liberty Mutual’s consolidation into its new building and State Street’s relo to the Seaport this spring.
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Amadeus North America, which provides technology for the global tourism and travel industry, is relocating into 56k SF at 1050 Winter St in Waltham (Boston Properties’ Bay Colony) from 27k SF at 307 Waverley Oaks Rd. Studley’s Bruce Schuman and T3 Advisors’ Mark Cote repped the tenant while Boston Properties Jason Fivek and Matthew Murray repped the landlord.
Construction & Development
Conroy Development of Stoughton is seeking city approval to build a 246-key boutique hotel, a 304-unit apartment building, and 16k SF of innovation space on Northern Ave in the Seaport. The proposal includes underground parking for 640 cars. Conroy would lease the land from MassPort.
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Chestnut Hill Realty of Newton is building the Fenway Diamond Apartments at 9 Miner St, 49 , a five-story 47k SF building.
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MSPCA-Angell leased 9,000 SF at 293 Second Ave in Waltham, where it will open a new emergency and specialty care animal hospital next week. MSPCA-Angell West, will offer emergency care 24/7, as well as surgery, internal medicine, and cardiology.
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Roxbury Crossing Senior Building Limited Partnership is developing an $8.5M, 40-unit rental housing facility for seniors 62 and older—all affordable—with amenities including a large community space at ground level with handicap-accessible bathrooms and kitchens. The Roxbury Crossing site at Columbus Avenue and Tremont Street has been vacant for several decades.
Financing
Normandy Real Estate Partners and JV partner Greenfield Partners secured an $85M floating-rate loan from a lender group that includes RBS Citizens and People’s United Bank for the 280k SF built-to-suit HQ they’re developing for TripAdvisor in Needham. HFF’s Riaz Cassum, Porter Terry, and Brett Paulsrud repped the borrower.
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Princeton Properties and Guggenheim Real Estate secured a $25M construction loan from First Niagara Bank’s Boston office for the 200-unit Princeton Westford Apartment Homes in Westford due for completion this year. HFF repped the borrower.
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MassDevelopment has provided three loans totaling $5.5M to develop 113 housing units in northeast Massachusetts: 48 units in Amesbury, a Chinburg Properties project; 45 units in Lynn being developed by 133 Eastern Realty Trust; and 20 units in Lowell being developed by Underwood Property, Management, and Development.
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Menck USA, a partnership between Liesenfeld International of Chicopee and Menck Windows of Hamburg, Germany, are renovating a 150k SF Chicopee building for Menck’s first manufacturing plant in western Mass. It received $5M in financing through a tax-exempt MassDevelopment bond purchased by Boston Private Bank with an additional MassDevelopment guarantee.
Sales
Jumbo Capital paid Campanelli $14.5M for a four-building office portfolio on Shawmut Road in Canton and Allied Drive in Dedham that the latter purchased for $11.5M three years ago. Newmark Grubb Knight Frank repped the seller and found the buyer.
People
Corvias Group, which develops and manages multifamily projects, has hired Michael Buckley, who has 23 years of experience in real estate finance, as the new SVP of Finance. He'll oversee all external financial relationships with Corvias’ institutional partners, while running the daily financial operations of the companies: Corvias Campus Living, Corvias Military Living, and Corvias Solutions.
