New Balance Sells Former World HQ For $72M
New Balance’s former world headquarters at 20 Guest St. has been sold for $72M, giving its owner a 228K SF facility near the bustling Boston Landing neighborhood.
NB Development sold the building to a joint venture of Boston-based Griffith Properties and D.C.-based Artemis Real Estate Partners, JLL announced Monday. JLL Capital Markets Senior Managing Director Coleman Benedict and Senior Directors Kerry Hawkins and Ben Sayles represented NB Development, the real estate arm of New Balance, in the deal.
The sale of the fully leased building represents one of the largest deals in the Boston area recently, said Aaron Jodka, Colliers’ managing director for research and client services in Boston.
“At $315 per square foot, that's a pretty good value for the city of Boston,” Jodka said, adding there has been a lack of recent sales transactions in Boston amid the coronavirus pandemic to compare it to.
More than 1M SF of office space in Boston was emptied in the third quarter as near-term demand for office space has been thrown into question, especially as cases of the coronavirus have spiked again across the country.
The 20 Guest property served as New Balance’s world headquarters since its development in 2000 until the athletic footwear and apparel maker moved into its new, 250K SF home overlooking the Massachusetts Turnpike in 2015. The Boston Landing development in the Allston Brighton area also includes an MBTA commuter rail stop, which Griffith Properties Managing Principal Marci Loeber touted as crucial to the neighborhood in a statement.
“Griffith Properties is excited to partner with Artemis Real Estate Partners on the acquisition of 20 Guest and to add this compelling Class A property to our portfolio, in one of the most exciting and emerging live/work/play environments in Boston,” Loeber said in a press release.
Tenants at the office and lab space include Harvard Business Publishing, the headquarters of Major League Lacrosse and the meat delivery service Butcher Box. The building also neighbors newly built practice facilities for the Boston Celtics and Boston Bruins, and an NB Development-led project incorporating a 3,500-person performance venue with a running track facility.
The deal is not the first joint venture between Griffith and Artemis in the Boston area. The pair co-owns two Burlington office buildings. Artemis Managing Director Anar Chudgar said on a Bisnow webinar in August that her firm was close to closing on an office building in a gateway city with a discount of up to 30% of its pre-COVID price. An Artemis spokesperson declined to comment.
