PEABODY, MASS. — Fantini & Gorga has arranged a $2.5 million loan to refinance a four-story office building in Peabody. Located at 1R Newbury St., the 40,861-square-foot property is currently occupied by 22 tenants. The building is part of Peabody Corporate Center. Derek Coulombe and Lindsay Feig of Fantini & Gorga secured the 15-year, fixed-rate loan on behalf of the undisclosed borrower. The lender was not disclosed.
LEXINGTON, MASS. — CBRE has brokered the sale of a 78,717-square-foot office building in Lexington for an undisclosed price. Located at 131 Hartwell Ave., the three-story building is located on more than five acres in the heart of the Route 128 Technology Corridor in Lexington. The property was renovated in 2014 and is currently 80 percent leased to six tenants. Roy Sandeman, Chris Skeffington and Jason Levendusky of CBRE represented the seller, Griffith Properties, in the transaction. The buyer was Azad Legacy Partners.
Boston’s metro west office market continued to move along at a steady clip in 2018. Many of the trends seen in the west market have been consistent over the past few years. One of the most prominent trends is that tenants continue to prefer high-quality properties. Class A product has benefited from the demand, resulting in a limited supply of Class A large blocks. In contrast, commodity space is still lagging from a demand standpoint. Additionally, many landlords have been performing gut renovations on older properties and have been reaping the rewards of their investments. The west market has also benefited from tenants migrating from Cambridge and life science demand, which are two closely related trends. Cambridge, particularly Kendall Square, is well known as the national hub of the life science industry. With that pedigree, pricing there has grown tremendously, and available space is scarce. As such, many life science occupiers are looking west to fulfill their needs, and the Cambridge market conditions have pushed other non-life science occupiers west as well. A proximity to the inner urban core makes towns like Watertown and Waltham particularly attractive. The above trends are not new, but one is. New economy tenants, who …
STOUGHTON, MASS. — Cornerstone Realty Capital has arranged an $8 million loan to refinance a 48-unit multifamily community in Stoughton. Located in Norfolk County, the property is approximately 20 miles south of Boston. The two-building community consists of 36 two-bedroom and 12 one-bedroom units. The buildings will undergo renovations,which will include the conversion of eight one-bedroom units into two-bedroom units. Additional renovations will include updates to the common areas and flooring, as well as adding a patio and grilling area, playground, dog run and bike racks. Cornerstone Realty Capital secured a fixed-rate financing structure with 30 months of interest-only payments for the borrower, True North Capital Partners. The lender was undisclosed.
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Rubenstein Properties Sells 28 Industrial Properties for $197M
LITTLE FALLS, N.J. — Rubenstein Properties has sold 28 industrial properties totaling more than 5 million square feet across six states for $197 million. Bernards Township, N.J.-based Silverman Group acquired 27 buildings for $183 million. Properties are located in New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Iowa, Indiana and Alabama. The portfolio was 95.8 percent leased at the time of the sale. Locations include: New Jersey 10 Park Place, Butler; 20-21 Wagaraw Road, Fair Lawn; 39 Avenue C, Bayonne; 101 E. Main St., Little Falls; 114 Beach St., Rockaway; and 1578 Sussex Turnpike, Randolph, N.J. (units 2 through 5). Connecticut 20, 50 and 80 Utopia Road, Manchester; 118 Sanrico Drive, Manchester; 135 Sheldon Road, Manchester; 428 Hayden Station Road, Windsor; Alabama 207 Jacintoport Blvd., Saraland. Indiana 2190 Summit St., New Haven, Ind. Further details about the properties were not disclosed. In addition, a tenant occupying 1055 Crossroads Blvd. in Muhlenberg Township, Pa., acquired the asset for $14 million. “The properties are all strategically located within infill locations in order to take advantage of consistently improving industrial leasing fundamentals and increasing demand with extremely limited supply,” said Brian Fiumara, executive vice president of CBRE. “Rubenstein Properties’ portfolio provided the buyer with an exceptional opportunity …
CAMBRIDGE, MASS. — Google has signed a 15-year lease for 362,000 square feet at 325 Main St. in the Kendall Square neighborhood of Cambridge. The lease agreement brings Google’s total footprint in Cambridge to more than 800,000 square feet. The new, 16-story building at 325 Main St. will include approximately 400,000 rentable square feet. The property will replace the existing 115,000-square-foot building currently on site. Construction is expected to commence later this year and be completed in 2022. Boston Properties is developing the new, 16-story building at 325 Main St.
DEDHAM, MASS. — EagleBridge Capital has secured a $17.8 million construction loan for Dior, a four-story, mixed-use development in Dedham. Located at 910-928 Providence Highway, the 46,525-square-foot property consists of 48 one- and two-bedroom residential units as well as 9,700 square feet of street-level retail space. The apartments will feature Energy Star rated stainless steel appliances, drawer microwaves, custom cabinetry and quartz counters. Brian Sheehan and Ted Sidel of EagleBridge secured the financing on behalf of the undisclosed borrower through an undisclosed Massachusetts financial institution. Terms of the financing were not disclosed.
READING, MASS — Nauset Construction has broken ground on The PostMark, a mixed-use complex in Reading. Located at 136 Haven St., the project will include 50 condominium units and 8,000 square feet of commercial space. The complex will also include a below-grade parking garage and landscaped courtyard. A joint venture between DiBiase Homes and Matrix Property Group are developing the complex. O’Sullivan Architects of Reading served as the architect on the project.
A highly educated workforce is driving corporate growth throughout Boston, particularly in the finance, technology and medical sectors. PNC Financial Services and JPMorgan Chase have announced considerable expansions and some international companies, including LogPoint, are setting up North American operations in the Boston metro. As a result, approximately 47,100 positions were created since October 2017, building on the 39,400 jobs added in the prior 12-month period. The pace of hiring has kept the unemployment rate in the low 3 percent band, making it difficult for employers to find quality workers. Overall, healthy employment growth continues to draw more residents and underpins household formation, fueling the need for quality housing. High home prices, however, are putting homeownership out of reach for many, boding well for apartment demand. As a result, vacancy rates remain considerably tight, resting below 4 percent in the third quarter. The still tight vacancy rate is creating a shortage of housing throughout Boston, particularly for lower income households. Consequently, vacancy in Class C apartments has held below 3 percent during the past two annual periods ending in September. Effective rent in these spaces is roughly between $700 and $1,800 per month less than Class A and B spaces, …
In the greater Boston area, over just the past decade, a whole new kind of neighborhood has been popping up. From Ink Block in the South End to the Seaport of Boston and Assembly Row in Somerville, it’s no secret that retail developers are evolving with the times by shifting their focus from traditional shopping malls to integrating retail into new and dynamic mixed-use developments offering housing, retail, entertainment, office space, parking and more. But no two cities are alike. Successful developers are in the business of staying ahead of the trends in how and where people want to shop, which in turn maps them back to how people want to live, work and play. A number of major players in the area, including Wilder, have deconstructed the key elements unique to Boston that converged into the making of these new greater Boston neighborhoods. Reinventing Malls Across the country, there’s a great deal of retail space that’s become available as a result of brick and mortar store closings. Most of these old centers have desirable locations, so it really comes down to a matter of them needing to be repurposed. There’s tremendous opportunity to recreate neighborhoods and bring in housing, office space and hotels …