FRAMINGHAM, MASS. — CBRE has brokered the $20.4 million sale of a 153,000-square-foot office and laboratory property located within Framingham Technology Park on the western outskirts of Boston. Zell Partnership represented the seller, biotech firm Sanofi Genzyme, which will continue to operate out of the property until it takes occupancy of a new build-to-suit space at Cambridge Crossing. That property is under construction, and Sanofi Genzyme expects to move in by late 2021 or early 2022. Steve Purpura, Chris Skeffington and Roy Sandeman of CBRE represented the buyer, King Street Properties, which plans to redevelop the property into a multi-tenanted R&D lab facility after Sanofi moves out.
WALTHAM, MASS. — ElevateBio, a biotech firm that specializes in gene therapy and development, will open a 108,000-square-foot office and lab space in Waltham, a western suburb of Boston. The facility will be located at 200 Smith Street in a former U.S. Post Office facility that was recently transformed into a 430,000-square-foot life sciences building. Anchor Line Partners LLC and Northwood Investors led the redevelopment project. ElevateBio’s new facility is expected to open in May 2020.
BOSTON — A joint venture between Carr Properties, National Real Estate Advisors LLC and locally based HYM Investment Group has broken ground on One Congress, a 1 million-square-foot speculative office tower in downtown Boston. The project will include 10,800 square feet of retail space and will anchor Bulfinch Crossing, a mixed-use development that includes residential, hotel, office and retail uses. The office building will top out at about 600 feet and feature 30,000 square feet of fitness, wellness and food and beverage offerings, as well as bike facilities and an outdoor roof garden. Completion is slated for 2023.
BOSTON — A joint venture between urban developer Accordia Partners and a private equity fund managed by Ares Management Corp. has acquired 2 Morrissey Boulevard, a 425,000-square-foot office complex in Boston. Located in the city’s Dorchester neighborhood, the five-building property was fully leased at the time of sale to Santander Bank. The complex is also situated across the street from the 20-acre site of the former Bayside Expo Center, which the joint venture is redeveloping. Newmark Knight Frank represented the seller, an affiliate of Beacon Capital Partners, in the transaction, and arranged acquisition financing for the buyer.
BOSTON — Citizens Commercial Banking has provided a $435 million construction loan for a 500,000-square-foot office and retail project in Boston’s Seaport District. The new building at 111 Harbor Way will feature two floors of retail space and 15 floors of office space that Amazon will fully occupy. Construction of the project is scheduled for completion by 2021. The borrower, a partnership between locally based investment firm WS Development and Canada’s Public Sector Pension Investment Board, officially broke ground on the building May 28. The partnership is the lead developer of the Boston Seaport, a 23-acre waterfront project that will eventually span 7.6 million square feet of residential, retail, office and hospitality space. The project also includes 8.8 acres of open public space. Citizens, a Rhode Island-based lender with more than $160 billion in assets under management, is also the lead arranger and administrative agent for the loan, which officially closed June 7. — Taylor Williams
BOSTON — A joint venture between Jefferson Apartment Group (JAG) and LaSalle Investment Management has acquired CityView at Longwood, a 289-unit multifamily high-rise in Boston, for roughly $180 million. The property is located within a block of the MBTA Green Line and within a mile of the Fenway area. The new ownership plans to implement a value-add program. Planned updates to the property include a reimagined common area on the penthouse level that will feature more than 8,000 square feet of lounge space, a community kitchen, fitness center and an indoor/outdoor roof deck. Additional new amenities will include a pet spa and resident storage space. Unit renovations will include the additions of granite countertops, updated appliances, new cabinets, sophisticated light fixtures, new flooring and tile backsplashes. The seller was Equity Residential.
WESTBOROUGH, MASS. — CBRE has brokered the $130 million sale of Fountainhead Apartments, a 562-unit community in Westborough, located east of Worcester. The market-rate community is situated on 20 acres near Interstates 90, 290 and 495 and comprises three eight-story buildings. Originally built in phases between 1971 and 1973, Fountainhead offers one-, two- and three-bedroom units averaging 1,157 square feet. Amenities include a pool, fitness center, basketball court and a tennis court. Simon Butler and Biria St. John of CBRE represented the seller, Northland Fountainhead LLC, an affiliate of Massachusetts-based Northland Investment Corp., in the transaction. The buyer was an affiliate of FPA Multifamily LLC.
FRAMINGHAM, MASS. — An affiliate of DSF Group, an investment firm with offices in Boston and Washington, D.C., has acquired Jefferson Hills Apartments, a 1,020-unit multifamily community in the western Boston suburb of Framingham. The property is situated on 27 acres and consists of four six-story apartment buildings and a clubhouse. The unit mix comprises 180 studio units, 551 one-bedroom apartments and 289 two-bedroom residences. Unit features include stainless steel appliances, quartz countertops, walk-in closets and private balconies. Communal amenities include a pool with a sundeck, fitness center, turf soccer field, basketball and tennis courts, a dog park, internet café, business center, game room and a children’s play area. The seller and sales price were not disclosed.
AUBURN, MASS. — The F.W. Webb Co., a wholesale distributor of plumbing, heating and cooling products, has purchased a 75,000-square-foot industrial building at 33 Sword St. in Auburn, just west of Worcester. The property, which fetched a sales price of about $4.4 million, is situated on three acres and was formerly owned by Imperial Distributors, which services non-food merchandisers that sell products in grocery stores. David Stubblebine and James Stubblebine of The Stubblebine Co., a brokerage firm active throughout New England, negotiated the transaction.
HOLBROOK, MASS. — The Stubblebine Co., an industrial brokerage firm that is active throughout New England, has arranged the sale of a 142,000-square-foot facility in Holbrook, located south of Boston. The sales price was approximately $5 million. The multi-tenant property features 19- to 27-foot clear heights and 25 loading docks. David Stubblebine and James Stubblebine represented the buyer and seller, both of which requested anonymity, in the transaction.