WALTHAM, MASS. — CBRE has brokered the sale of Gardencrest Apartment Homes, a 696-unit multifamily community located in the western Boston suburb of Waltham. Built in phases on a 34-acre site between 1949 and 1972, Gardencrest consists of 64 buildings that house a mix of traditional apartments and direct-entry townhomes with an average size of 906 square feet. Amenities include a pool, clubhouse and a fitness center. Simon Butler, Biria St. John, John McLaughlin and Brian Bowler of CBRE represented the seller, an affiliate of Virginia-based Harbor Group International, in the transaction. The team also procured the buyer, an affiliate of San Francisco-based Fowler Property Acquisition, which has rebranded the property as ReNew Waltham.
PITTSFIELD, MASS. — New Jersey-based intermediary Cronheim Mortgage has arranged a $7.4 million refinancing of Merrill Road Retail Plaza in the western Massachusetts city of Pittsfield. Built in 1971, the property was fully leased at the time of the loan closing to tenants such as T.J. Maxx, HomeGoods, Harbor Freight, Aspen Dental, Sally Beauty Supply and Planet Fitness. Andrew Stewart, Dev Morris and Brandon Szwalbenest of Cronheim arranged the 10-year loan on behalf of the borrower, Phoenix Realty Management.
NEW BEDFORD, MASS. — CBRE has brokered the $14.2 million sale of Kings Plaza, a 168,000-square-foot shopping center in New Bedford, located near the base of Cape Cod. The center is home to tenants such as Savers, Ocean State Job Lot, McDonald’s, FunZ Trampoline Park and EC Barton Home Outlet. Nat Heald and Jordana Roet of CBRE represented the seller, Virginia-based REIT Cedar Realty Trust, in the transaction. The buyer was a undisclosed private investor.
BOSTON — Carmel Partners, a San Francisco-based multifamily investor, has purchased LUKA on the Common, a 30-story apartment high-rise in downtown Boston. Northern Virginia-based AvalonBay Communities sold the 398-unit property, which was formerly known as the AVA Theater District. Carmel Partners utilized a $137.3 million Fannie Mae acquisition loan to fund the purchase. Jeff Burns, senior managing director of multifamily finance at Walker & Dunlop, originated the five-year, interest-only loan on behalf of the buyer. The agency loan features an early rate lock. “Boston’s multifamily fundamentals are among the strongest in the nation, driven by limited existing and future supply,” says Burns. “The housing scarcity has impacted both rent growth and the for-sale condominium market [in Boston] and has enabled us to refinance successfully alongside the team at Carmel.” The sales price was not disclosed, but the Boston Business Journal reported that the property traded for $212 million. Walker & Dunlop’s investment sales team in Boston, which brokered the transaction, disclosed it was the highest price paid for an apartment complex in the city in more than a year. Lee Bloch, partner at Carmel Partners, says that LUKA on the Common has an “enviable location” as it is about a 10-minute …
NANTUCKET, MASS. — DXD Development has broken ground on a 667-unit self-storage facility on Nantucket, an island located off the coast of Massachusetts. SmartStop will manage the facility, which will span 96,238 net rentable square feet, including climate-controlled and vehicle storage spaces. Park East Construction Co. will serve as the general contractor for the project, which is being financed by Centreville Bank. Completion is scheduled for the third quarter of 2025.
LAWRENCE, MASS. — Developer WinnCos. has completed Stone Mill Lofts, a $39.2 million multifamily adaptive reuse project in Lawrence, a northern suburb of Boston. The project converted a 179-year-old structure that originally housed a stone mill into a complex with one-, two- and three-bedroom units. Of the 86 units, 11 are reserved for households earning 30 percent or less of the area median income (AMI); 58 are reserved for renters earning up to 60 percent of AMI; and the other 17 are to be rented at market rates. Amenities include a resident lounge and kitchen, billiards room, fitness center, children’s playroom, resident storage lockers, work-from-home pods, package room and a historic mill exhibit room. MassHousing provided $25.9 million in financing for the project.
HYANNIS, MASS. — Whole Foods Market will open a 42,560-square-foot store at 790 Iyannough Road in the Cape Cod community of Hyannis. The Austin-based grocer is relocating its Hyannis store from 990 Iyannough Road, which has served the community for the past decade. The store will feature full-service meat and seafood counters, a bakery, wellness and beauty section and a prepared foods counter. The grand opening is set for Thursday, Oct. 10.
CAMBRIDGE, MASS. — Newmark has brokered the $20.1 million sale of Porter Square Galleria, a 55,610-square-foot retail property located across the Charles River from Boston in Cambridge. A 28,893-square-foot Target store anchors the property, which was 96 percent leased at the time of sale. Other tenants include One Medical, Anna’s Taqueria and Citizens Bank. Robert Griffin, Jonathan Martin and Paul Penman of Newmark represented the undisclosed seller in the transaction and procured the buyer, locally based investment firm Crosspoint Associates. David Douvadjian Sr., Timothy O’Donnell, David Douvadjian Jr. and Conor Reenstierna of Newmark arranged acquisition financing for the deal.
BEDFORD, MASS. — A partnership between Boston-based Camber Development and Connecticut-based Wheelock Street Capital has completed a 147,000-square-foot industrial and life sciences project in Bedford, about 20 miles northwest of Boston. The project represents Phase I of a larger manufacturing campus known as 44 Middlesex, and the second phase will also center on the delivery of a 147,000-square-foot building. Construction of that facility is expected to begin in 2025 and to last about a year. Both buildings will be two-story structures and will have 105,000 square feet on the ground floor and a 42,000-square-foot mezzanine space on the second floor, as well as clear heights of 36 feet. Newmark is the leasing agent for the development.
LYNN, MASS. — MassDevelopment has provided $7.5 million in tax-exempt bond financing for a project in the northeastern Boston suburb of Lynn that will convert the upper portion of a former commercial building into a 24-unit affordable housing complex. Units will be reserved for formerly homeless adults aged 18 to 24 that earn 30 percent or less of the area median income. Eastern Bank purchased the bond. The developer, nonprofit organization Harborlight Homes, will also utilize $6.4 million in federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credits to finance construction of the project.