BOSTON — Locally based biotechnology firm Ginkgo Bioworks has signed a 38,759-square-foot life sciences lease at 10 Wilson Road in the Cambridge area of Boston. The new space is located within The Quad, a four-building, 510,000-square-foot campus that is being developed in phases by The Davis Companies. McKenna Teague and Erick Smith of CBRE represented the developer in the lease negotiations. Anne Columbia and Patrick Downey of Columbia Group Realty Advisors Inc. represented the tenant.
LOWELL, MASS. — SVN | Parsons Commercial Group | Boston has brokered the sale of a 33,000-square-foot office building located at 81 Bridge St. in Lowell, which is located north of Boston. The sales price was approximately $2.5 million. According to LoopNet Inc., the two-story building was constructed in 1916. Marci Alvarado and Jake Parsons of SVN represented the seller, Bridge Street Business Center LLC, in the transaction. The duo also procured the buyer, Mill Bridge Residential LLC.
METHUEN, MASS. — CBRE has arranged the sale of two industrial buildings totaling 362,252 square feet in Methuen, located north of Boston near the Massachusetts-New Hampshire border. The sales price was approximately $64.1 million. One of the buildings is a 291,400-square-foot cold storage facility that was built in 1985 and renovated in 1990. The other is a 70,872-square-foot property that was built in 1989. The buildings were fully leased at the time of sale to Shaw’s Supermarkets and McCollister’s Transportation Group, respectively. Scott Dragos, Douglas Jacoby, Chris Skeffington and Daniel Hines of CBRE represented the seller, Equity Industrial Properties, in the transaction.
AMESBURY, MASS. — Marcus & Millichap has brokered the sale of two multifamily assets totaling 183 units in the northeastern Massachusetts city of Amesbury. British Colonial Apartments is a 111-unit community located at 164 Whitehall Road that features one- and two-bedroom units and amenities such as a pool and onsite laundry facilities. Amesbury Gardens is a 72-unit complex at 106 Friend St. that offers studio, one- and two-bedroom floor plans. Evan Griffith and Tony Pepdjonovic of Marcus & Millichap represented the seller and procured the buyer in the transaction. Both parties requested anonymity. The properties sold for $26.5 million and had a combined occupancy rate of 98 percent at the time of sale.
BOSTON — Locally based developer King Street Properties has broken ground on 101 Cambridgepark, a $170 million life sciences project located in the Cambridge area of Boston. King Street is partnering with California-based Healthpeak Properties on the 160,000-square-foot project, which will feature both traditional office and laboratory space within a five-story building. The property will also include 3,000 square feet of street-level retail space with outdoor seating. Completion is slated for the third quarter of 2022. Newmark is leasing the project.
BOSTON — Wayfair Inc. (NYSE: W), a Boston-based e-commerce firm specializing in home furniture, reported an increase of 66.5 percent in total net revenue during its third-quarter earnings call on Tuesday, Nov. 3. The company’s impressive year-over-year revenue growth from $1.5 billion to $3.8 billion caused its stock price to shoot up about 13 percent in early-hours trading before closing at $274.11 per share on Tuesday, up from $87.43 per share a year ago. Wayfair reported similar levels of revenue growth in both its domestic and international markets, noting that the size of its customer base had also grown by about 50 percent year-over-year. Wayfair now lists the number of active customers in its direct retail business as 28.8 million. Lastly, the company said that it completed about 15.8 million deliveries during the third quarter, a 72.8 percent increase from that period in 2019.
WALTHAM, MASS. — General contractor Gilbane Building Co. has topped out 225 Wyman Street, a 500,000-square-foot life sciences project in the western Boston suburb of Waltham. Designed by Gensler, the property will offer space for both laboratory/research and development users as well as traditional office users. Amenities will include green space with walking trails, a three-acre courtyard, fitness center, conference center, dining facility and a 1,500-space covered parking garage with electric vehicle charging stations. Hobbs Brook Management LLC is the developer of the project, which is expected to be complete in March 2022.
WILBRAHAM, MASS. — FIC Restaurants Inc., which operates the Friendly’s brand, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and entered in an agreement to sell all of its assets to Amici Partners Group LLC. Nearly all of Friendly’s 130 corporate-owned and franchised restaurant locations, known for burgers, sandwiches and ice cream, are expected to remain open subject to COVID-19 limitations. Friendly’s stated that it has sufficient cash on hand to continue operations, meet its obligations to employees, franchisees and vendors. Upon the sale closing, Amici expects to retain most employees at Friendly’s corporate-owned restaurant locations. Amici is an affiliate of BRIX Holdings, an owner-operator whose brands include Red Mango Yogurt Café Smoothie & Juice Bar, Smoothie Factory Juice Bar, RedBrick Pizza Kitchen Café and Souper Salad.
LEXINGTON, MASS. — DiMella Shaffer, a Boston-based architecture and design firm, has completed its second expansion project for the 26-acre Brookhaven at Lexington seniors housing community located north of Boston. The project featured renovations to all common areas, and expansion and improvements to the assisted care and long-term care facility. A four-story wing that houses new amenities has also been added. Brookhaven Senior Living owns the property.
ATLANTA AND CANTON, MASS. — Inspire Brands has agreed to acquire fast-food breakfast chain Dunkin’ Brands (NASDAQ: DNKN) in a transaction valued at $11.3 billion. The deal is expected to close by the end of the year. Atlanta-based Inspire Brands is the parent company of restaurant chains such as Arby’s, Jimmy John’s, Sonic Drive-In and Buffalo Wild Wings. In addition to its namesake coffee and breakfast chain, Canton, Mass.-based Dunkin’ Brands also owns ice cream parlor chain Baskin-Robbins, which respectively have about 12,500 and 8,000 locations worldwide. Dunkin’ has about 9,600 locations in the United States. The deal’s price tag equates to $106.50 per share, to be paid in cash, and includes the assumption of all Dunkin’ Brands’ debt. The share price represents a 30 percent premium over the Dunkin’ Brands 30-day weighted average price and a 20 percent premium over its closing stock price of $88.79 per share on Friday, Oct. 23. “We are excited to bring meaningful value to shareholders who have been with us on this journey and believe that Inspire Brands, a preeminent operator of franchised restaurant concepts, will continue to drive growth for our franchisees while remaining true to all that is unique and special …
