SPRINGFIELD, MASS. — Newmark Knight Frank (NKF) has brokered the $10.2 million sale of Springfield Commons, a 182,400-square-foot retail center located in the southwestern Massachusetts city of Springfield. Walmart anchors the property, which also houses tenants such as Dollar Tree and Sonic. Geoffrey Millerd, Justin Smith, Paul Penman, Samantha Torto and Robert Griffin represented the undisclosed seller and procured the buyer, Paramount Realty Services Inc.
MARLBOROUGH, MASS. — JLL has brokered the $33.2 million sale of a 206,000-square-foot data center in Marlborough, located northeast of Worcester. The property, which also offers some flex space, is located at 34 St. Martin Drive. At the time of sale, the center was 95 percent leased. Data center tenants TierPoint and Crown Castle lease 85 percent of the property’s rentable square footage with a weighted average lease term of well over 10 years. Frank Petz, Matt Sherry and Tom Ragno of JLL represented the seller, Lincoln Property Co., in the transaction. The buyer was California-based Menlo Equities.
Bolstered by strong growth in its millennial population and high-paying jobs, Boston’s urban core continues to boast one of the lowest retail vacancy rates in the country. But this trend has also led to a wave of new development that could temper that good news for Boston retail owners. According to data from Marcus & Millichap, metro Boston’s retail vacancy rate is expected to rise by 40 basis points from 3.2 percent to 3.6 percent in 2019, a year in which 1.3 million square feet of new projects are slated for completion. By comparison, the national vacancy rate stood at 10.2 percent at the end of the first quarter, reports Reis. Marcus & Millichap predicts that the uptick in metro Boston’s retail vacancy will slow the pace of annual rent growth to 3.3 percent. Population growth is fueling demand for housing, which in turn spurs demand for retail to serve those new residents. Metro Boston’s population has grown by more than 112,000 people over the last five years, according to Marcus & Millichap, and the area boasts a median household income in excess of $90,000. While the local rate of population growth mirrors that of the United States as a …
BOSTON — Fortis Property Group, a New York City-based developer, will undertake a redevelopment project in downtown Boston that will convert the Dock Square Garage into a residential and retail property. Current plans call for 210 condominium units and 8,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space. Fortis will build a six-story vertical addition for the residential component and will renovate and upgrade the existing retail space. Stantec Architects is handling design. Completion is slated for 2023.
ATTLEBORO, MASS. — A joint venture between Unison Realty Partners and Argosy Real Estate Partners has acquired Bristol Place, a 421,680-square-foot shopping center in Attleboro. Anchored by Market Basket, Bristol Place is situated at the interchange of I-95 and Route 1A, eight miles north of downtown Providence. Built in 1993 and renovated in 2013, Bristol Place is home to a number of other tenants, including Home Depot, Party City, Bob’s Discount Furniture, Hobby Lobby and TJ Maxx. The joint venture tapped The Wilder Cos. as the property manager and leasing agent for the center. This assignment marks the seventh retail property in the Northeast that Wilder manages on behalf of Unison. The seller and sales price were not disclosed.
CAMBRIDGE, MASS. — Capital Stack Commercial Real Estate Finance and Miami-based GenX Capital Partners have arranged $37.7 million in construction financing for 907 Main Hotel, a 67-room property in Cambridge. Local developer Patrick Barrett III is leading the development of the upscale, boutique hotel, which will span 42,000 square feet and offer a street-level restaurant and a rooftop bar. The building will also house Toscanini’s Ice Cream, which has operated in the neighborhood since 1981. A New York-based hedge fund provided the financing. The hotel is slated to open in early 2020.
BOSTON — Madison Realty Capital has provided a $314 million construction loan for the development of Raffles Boston Back Bay Hotel & Residences. Trinity Stuart LLC, a partnership between two Boston-based entities, Saunders Hotel Group and The Noannet Group, is leading development of the project, which will consist of 147 hotel rooms and 146 residential units. Cain International is also providing joint venture equity to develop the project, which has a total price tag of more than $400 million, with Trinity Stuart. Riaz Cassum and Anthony Cutone of JLL placed the debt and equity on behalf of the developer. A construction timeline was not released.
SOMERVILLE, MASS. — Union Square Station Associates (US2) will build a $160 million lab building in the Union Square area of Somerville, Massachusetts. The property will be a 175,000-square-foot lab building and office space, which will also feature 8,900 square feet of flexible space and ground-floor retail space. SGA is the project designer. Construction is slated to begin in late 2019.
CAMBRIDGE, MASS. — MassHousing, an affordable housing lender in Massachusetts, has provided $22.8M in loans for the development of a multifamily property in Cambridge, part of the metro Boston area. The borrower, Cambridge-based nonprofit developer Just-A-Start Corp., will combine the 45-unit Linwood Court community and the 20-unit Squirrel Brand community to create a new affordable housing property called Squirrelwood. The financing consists of an $8.2 million permanent loan, $13.6 million bridge loan and $1 million loan from MassHousing’s Workforce Housing Initiative. The developer will also renovate existing apartments and construct 23 new units to bring the total unit count up to 88. The contractor will be Callahan Construction Managers, and the architect is Davis Square Architects.
CAMBRIDGE, MASS. — Knighthead Funding LLC, a Connecticut-based private lender, has provided a $37.7 million construction loan for the completion of a hotel conversion project in Cambridge, located across the Charles River from Boston. The project involves the conversion of a four-story multifamily building into a 67-room hotel that will house ground-floor retail space and features a rooftop lounge. Hay Creek will manage the new hotel, which is slated to open in the first quarter of 2020. Knighthead provided the 24-month loan to a local partnership operating as Sean Casey LLC.