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.
BOSTON — The Fallon Co., a locally based developer, has broken ground on a 310,000-square-foot office building for Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. (MassMutual) in Boston’s Seaport District. The build-to-suit property will be located within the $4 billion Fan Pier mixed-use development and is expected to be complete by late 2021. Approximately 1,000 employees will work at the 17-story building, which will serve as a hub for the company’s digital and technology divisions. MassMutual also plans to add about 1,500 jobs at its headquarters in Springfield, Mass., by the end of 2021.
WOBURN, MASS. — MLL Capital has acquired two medical office buildings totaling 112,228 square feet in Woburn, a northern suburb of Boston. The seller and sales price were not disclosed. The property was 78 percent leased at the time of sale to tenants such as Beth Israel Lahey Health, Tufts Medical Center and Woburn Pediatrics. Boston-based MLL Capital plans to make approximately $4 million in capital improvements to the buildings. The program will include the remodeling of entrances, a renovation of common areas and a replacement of major building systems.
CAMBRIDGE, MASS. — Boston Properties will develop a 417,000-square-foot, build-to-suit office building at 325 Main St. in the Kendall Square area of Cambridge for Google, which has signed a 362,000-square-foot lease. Construction of the 16-story property, which will be built at the current site of 3 Cambridge Center, will begin later this year. Completion of the building, which will also house 42,000 square feet of retail space and serve as the tech giant’s new Cambridge headquarters, is slated for 2022. Pickard Chilton has been tapped to handle design of the project. Following completion, Google’s footprint in the area will exceed 800,000 square feet.
NATICK, MASS. — Locally based brokerage firm R.W. Holmes Commercial Real Estate has arranged the sale of Natick Office Park, a 63,000-square-foot building located about 20 miles west of Boston. The property is situated on 2.9 acres near the West Natick commuter train station and the Massachusetts Turnpike. Garry Holmes of R.W. Holmes represented the seller, 209 W. Central Street LP, and procured the buyer, an affiliate of Legacy Real Estate Ventures LLC that purchased the asset for $6.8 million. Camden National Bank provided acquisition financing for the deal.
NEWTON, MASS. AND DALLAS — Hospitality Properties Trust (NASDAQ: HPT) has purchased a portfolio of net-leased retail assets from Spirit MTA REIT (NYSE: SMTA) for $2.4 billion. The portfolio consists of 774 service-oriented retail properties in 43 states that are occupied by tenants including AMC Theatres, Academy Sports + Outdoors and CarMax. The portfolio was 98 percent occupied as of March 31 and has a weighted average remaining lease term of 8.6 years. The portfolio includes all of SMTA’s owned properties held in its “Master Trust 2014” segment and excludes approximately 100 assets leased to Shopko Stores Inc., a Wisconsin-based general merchandiser that filed for bankruptcy in January. The portfolio also includes three Pilot Travel Centers that are currently owned by Spirit Realty Capital Inc., a Dallas-based net-lease REIT that owns single-tenant retail assets subject to long-term leases. Spirit Realty externally manages SMTA after spinning off the REIT from its holdings last summer. “Ultimately, we concluded that a sale to Hospitality Properties Trust represented the best possible outcome for our shareholders,” said Richard Stockton, lead independent trustee of SMTA, in a statement. “We will continue our work to close the transaction in the coming months and realize cash value for …
NORTH WALTHAM, MASS. — U.S. Storage Centers has acquired a 445-unit self-storage facility, located at 115 Bacon St. in the Boston suburb of North Waltham, from Planet Self Storage. The 34,116-square-foot property was originally built as a manufacturing plant in 1900 and converted to self-storage use in 1983. With this acquisition, U.S. Storage Centers now owns and operates four self-storage facilities in the Boston area.
SPRINGFIELD, MASS. — The Davenport Company, a Boston-based developer, has broken ground on a new retail building for CVS Pharmacy in Springfield, located in the western part of the state. The property is being constructed on Main Street at a site that was damaged by a tornado in 2011. Davenport acquired the parcel in 2016 and redeveloped it to include medical office and residential space. Davenport is also redeveloping a former factory in Springfield into a market-rate multifamily community, and will begin construction of that project this month.
BOSTON — Pebblebrook Hotel Trust, a publicly traded real estate investment trust (NYSE: PEB), has sold the 112-room Onyx hotel located at 155 Portland St. near downtown Boston for $58.3 million. The buyer was not disclosed, but the sales price represents a capitalization rate of 5.9 percent. Pebblebrook will use proceeds from the sale for general business purposes, including paying off existing debt. The Onyx Hotel offers guests amenities such as a 24-hour fitness center, bike rental services, spa products and services that are delivered directly to guestrooms.