The Deal Sheet
Northeastern University broke ground Friday on a $225M, 220k SF interdisciplinary research complex that will help it intensify its focus on research and—literally—create a bridge between Roxbury and the Fenway, adjacent neighborhoods that sometimes seem worlds apart, chief of campus planning and development Kathy Spiegelman tells us. (No more need to hang glide from one to the other.)
Mayor Martin Walsh discusses with president Joseph Aoun, city councillor Tito Jackson, charter school student Miles Graham (7th grade, age 12) and Miles' mother that the Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering complex is a project for the city as well as the school. The complex, sited on the Roxbury side of the orange line subway and commuter rail tracks features green space, and a bridge over the tracks linking to the Huntington Avenue side of the campus. Slated for a fall ’16 opening, the facility aims to integrate researchers in health science, life science, engineering, and computer science. It will have wet/dry labs, computational research facilities, and interactive teaching/learning spaces.
NU’s first major building project of its recently approved 10-year master plan, it is the university’s first new academic building on the Roxbury side of the campus. Payette designed it to house a staff of about 700: 70 principal investigators and their teams. The university is on course to hire more researchers, Kathy tells us. It has owned the site—used as a parking lot--for decades. It’s been planning this project since ’11 and won city approval for it in December. Kathy expects construction to start this spring on the complex that will have labs, offices, classrooms, and a café open to the public.
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Carpenter & Co broke ground on the $65M, 70k SF development of a new office at 114-116 Mt Auburn St in Harvard Square where new development is rare. It will be fully leased by Harvard and also have a restaurant and retail. The Elkus Manfredi design includes the historic restoration of the former-MBTA conductor’s building, among the authority’s oldest structures, and will cantilever over and above the electric transformers that power the entire Red Line.
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Related and The Congress Group are completing construction of 100 Arlington, a 128-unit luxury rental apartment building with first occupancy slated for April. It is the redevelopment of the historic building, which housed the Boston Renaissance Charter Public School. The building, designed by Elkus Manfredi and interior by CBT, is offering a two-bedroom apartment for $6,200/month.
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The 1873 Cape Ann Museum in Gloucester will launch renovations to the institution with collections that represent the history of the region: its people, industries, arts and culture in 13 galleries, a library and historical archives, an auditorium, children’s activity center, sculpture garden and historic homes. The Museum secured $250k in financing from MassDevelopment and the Mass Cultural Council to replace the HVAC system, to install fire prevention systems, and upgrade lighting.
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The Joseph M. Smith Community Health Center (JMSCHC) in Allston and Brighton will build an $8M, 48k SF health center to consolidate from three leased sites. It will have offices, the primary Allston health center and vision clinic doubling JMSCHC’s patient capacity to 11,500 patient/year from 6,000.
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Lynnfield Initiatives for Elders is building the seven-building, 115k SF, $15M Colonial Village development on Market Street in Lynnfield with Tocci Building Cos and O’Sullivan Architects. The project will have 12 townhouse units and 35 garden-style units for singles and couples age 55, and older is slated to open in September '15.
Leasing
Hermes is expanding at The Heritage on the Garden--to 8,675 SF from 3,850, while Anne Fontaine will move to a newly renovated space of 1,125 SF . Joining those luxury retailers is Bottega Veneta, leasing 2,500 SF with landlord The Druker Co, which developed the condo, hotel, retail, and restaurant complex in ’88 transforming an entire city block. Hermes will have a two-level store at the prime Back Bay location: Arlington and Boylston streets. Plans for the Hermès expansion include a new corner entrance, a grand staircase, an elevator connecting the two floors and signature awnings featuring the iconic Hermès logo on two levels of the building’s exterior.
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WeWork shared office spaces, have leased 126k SF at 745 Atlantic Ave across from South Station and 51 Melcher St in the Innovation District. In total in the two locations, will be 2,200 desks for 600 companies staffed by entrepreneurs, startup founders, small business owners, and freelancers. The intersection and cross-pollination between industries and companies of all scales fuels ideas that spur job growth.
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The Ashcroft Sullivan Law Firm leased 2,879 SF at 200 State St in the Financial District, a relo from One Post Office Square. Boston Realty Advisors’s Adam Schneier repped the lawyers; Cushman & Wakefield’s David Martel repped the sublandlord, Hermes Fund Managers.
Financing
AmCap and a state pension plan JV partner secured $55M in financing through TIAA-CREF—two new 15-year mortgages. The loans will pay off existing debt on two Super Stop & Shop-anchored retail properties totaling 583k SF in Bloomfield, Ct and Warwick, RI and lock in highly attractive long-term, assumable fixed-rate financing at about 65% LTV. Colliers International Boston’s Jeff Black and Kevin Phelan repped the borrower.
The Docor Group secured nearly $13M in mortgage financing to refi the existing mortgages, cover closing costs including prepayment premiums, and provide cash out to the borrower on retail buildings in Mansfield and Attleboro; North Windham, Conn.; North Kingston, RI; and North Hampton, NH; as well as two office buildings in Lincoln, RI. EagleBridge Capital’s Brian Sheehan and Ted Sidel arranged the deal.
People
Colliers International Boston’s Lisa Campoli, a partner in the investment sales group, is leaving the company, which she’s been with for 13 years to start her own advisory firm, Ella Properties. The private real estate firm will focus on opportunistic investments in urban in-fill locations throughout the Boston metro.
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Joining Colliers investment sales team as SVPs are Douglas Jacoby and Scott Dragos to specialize in the acquisition and disposition of client property. The pair directed brokerage sales at NAI Hunneman and both previously worked at Newmark Knight Frank.
