The Deal Sheet; Related Beal Gets Busy at Former Fidelity Block
In one of the most central locations in Boston’s CBD, this fall Related Beal will start to transform the former Fidelity Block—a covey of century-old buildings—into modern offices, retail, hotel, and residences, EVP Stephen Faber tells us. (For some reason, developers a century ago didn't account for WiFi needs.)
Yesterday, Related Beal announced its plan to convert what it now calls Congress Square, a 343k SF, four-building portfolio near Downtown Crossing that it purchased in December from Fidelity for $87M, into at least 250k SF of offices, 45k SF of retail, a hotel and residences. RB will make a “very significant” investment to convert 40 Water St into efficient, modern offices, Steve says. It’s likely to sell two of the smaller buildings to a specialized boutique developer but Related Beal will still control permitting and make sure the end result meets its goals. Arrowstreet is the architect; JLL will lease the offices and CBRE Grossman, the retail.
Congress Square, built from 1899 to 1921, has some robust mechanical systems because the financial firm had a trading floor there. Located near the Old State House at 40 Water St, 68 Devonshire St, 19 Congress St, 15 Congress St and 54 Devonshire St, Related Beal has the debt financing from Natixis to start construction and can secure additional capital, Steve says. He expects the purchaser of the other buildings to produce a mix of uses including a 120-key boutique hotel and 35 residences. Because RB acquired the portfolio at an attractive basis—about $254/SF—the offices will be competitive but not asking for Class-A rents.
UMass-Lowell has completed the $78M University Crossing, a new 225k SF campus center, bookstore, dining area and events space. Shawmut Design and Construction led the construction crew.
***
Eastern Nazarene College in Quincy will use the proceeds from a $23M tax-exempt bond issued by MassDevelopment to upgrade academic and athletic facilities and refi debt. East Boston Savings Bank bought the bond.
***
Devens Village Green has agreed to buy 35 acres at Devens where it intends to develop 124 units of housing in Devens’s Grant Road neighborhood, a roughly 35-acre portion of the 4,400-acre community. Starting mid ’15, the developer plans to start construction on a walkable neighborhood with a mix of housing styles.
***
The Dorchester Bay Economic Development Corp, Crop Circle Kitchen, the City of Boston and other partners completed the $15M Bornstein & Pearl Food Production Center. Yesterday, they officially opened the food manufacturing facility and business incubator at 196 Quincy St in Dorchester.
***
Roslindale Village Main Street, Historic Boston and Peregrine Group officially started construction Saturday on the $15M redevelopment of the Roslindale MBTA Substation into The Parkside on Adams. The new mixed-use complex will incorporate the historic former MBTA substation, and 43 new residences, including six affordable units.
Sales
Intercontinental Real Estate Corp closed on its approximately $57M purchase of Watermill Center in Waltham from New Boston Fund. The six-story, 207k SF Class-A office is 90% leased. Cushman & Wakefield’s Robert Griffin, Edward Maher, and Matt Pullen repped NBF.
***
KS Partners has agreed to pay Normandy Real Estate Partners $31M for Dedham Place, a 162k SF office near the Dedham Hilton. HFF repped Normandy.
***
JLD Realty Trust paid $1.8M to 135 Athens Realty Trust for two South Boston development sites at 160 W Broadway and 135 Athens St near the West Broadway “T” stop. Wallace Co’s Mark Wallace repped the seller and Duhallow Real Estate’s Rob Walsh repped the buyer, who plans to build high-end residences.
Leasing
KLR leased an additional 6,444 SF at 800 South St in Waltham and has extended the term of its lease. It will occupy 22k SF in this six-story, 207k SF complex. R.W. Holmes Realty’s Garry Holmes repped the buyer and Cassidy Turley’s Duncan Grafton repped the landlord New Boston Fund.
***
Life science giant Genzyme leased 114k SF at One Research Dr in Westborough where it will relo about 500 employees from Framingham late this year. Landlord Ferris Development was repped by Transwestern/RBJ’s John Lashar, Paul Leone, and Danielle DeMarco. Genzyme was repped by JM Zell’s Louis Kluger, Jeff Zell and Marc Sobel.
***
Community
The family of Hong Kong real estate developer TH Chan who died in 1986 has donated $350M to Harvard University’s School of Public Health, the largest gift ever received by the world’s oldest (101 years) continuously operating school of public health in the world. The funds will help advance research on Ebola, expand student financial aid and provide loan forgiveness to graduates who decide to work in underserved US communities or poor countries.
Assignments
Campanelli hired Transwestern | RBJ to lease 300 Friberg Parkway in Westborough. In June, Campanelli bought the three-story, 78k SF office and started renovations of the façade, lobby and common areas.
