BOSTON — Skanska and PGIM Real Estate have sold The Harlo, a 17-story multifamily tower in the Fenway neighborhood of Boston. Global real estate investment manager Invesco Real Estate purchased the property for $150 million. The 183,000-square-foot property includes 212 boutique apartments as well as retail space. At the time of sale, the property was 98 percent leased.
BILLERICA, MASS. — SVN | Parsons Commercial Group has brokered the $2.5 million sale of a 30,000-square-foot office building in Billerica. Located at 5 Fortune Drive, the first floor of the building is fully leased to Anew Health, which operates an adult daycare facility on site. Marci Alvarado and Jake Parsons of SVN | Parsons Commercial Group represented the seller, Five Fortune Drive LLC, in the transaction. The buyer was NeoSome Life Sciences LLC.
AMESBURY, MASS. — Cornerstone Realty Capital has arranged a $5.7 million acquisition loan for Briggs Mill, a 44-unit apartment complex in Amesbury. Located at 20 Cedar St., the former mill building was converted into apartments in 2014. All units feature stainless-steel appliances, ample closet space and hardwood floors in the kitchen and living room. Building amenities include a community room with a kitchenette and entertainment area, storage units and a fitness center. Cornerstone worked on behalf of the undisclosed borrower to deliver a fixed-rate financing structure with two years of interest-only payments followed by a 30-year amortization through an agency lender.
TEWKSBURY, MASS. — HFF has brokered the sale of the Residence Inn Boston Tewksbury/Andover hotel in Tewksbury. The sales price was undisclosed. Located at 1775 Andover St., the 130-room hotel was completed in 1990 and comprises 10 three-story buildings. Amenities include a fitness room, car rental station, convenience store, outdoor swimming pool and business center. Daniel C. Peek, Denny Meikleham, Alan Suzuki, KC Patel and Matthew Enright of HFF represented the institutional seller in the transaction. The buyer was Sawyer Realty Holdings LLC.
Greater Boston’s industrial market continued its hot streak in 2018. Positive net absorption of 350,000 square feet in 2018 marked the eighth straight year of gains. Vacancies, which ended the year at 10.1 percent, have halved since peaking at the end of 2010. Over this time, the market absorbed 17.5 million square feet and is now poised for continued growth. Tenant demand remains strong and some of the larger tenants in the market— Albertsons, Premier Distribution, Trimark, Jofran, Amazon, Wayfair, and Harte Hanks— are seeking a total of 3.5 million square feet of space. Rents are at record highs, in aggregate topping $9.50 per square foot triple-net, which factors in a space-weighted asking rent on available product. Tenants looking for product in the Urban markets are seeing rents at or above $20 per square foot triple-net, while new product in the South and West is into the $7 per square foot triple-net range. Cheaper space can still be found, but landlords have never seen a stronger rental market. Absorption Slows Despite the gains, absorption was held back by several large blocks of space coming onto the market throughout 2018. The closing of the Necco factory in Revere opened up more …
HUDSON, MASS. — Cornerstone Realty Capital has secured a $2.2 million loan to refinance a 32-unit mixed-use property in Hudson. Located on Main Street, the property consists of 28 residential and four commercial units. Patrick Brady of Cornerstone secured the fixed-rate financing with 12 months of interest-only payments on behalf of the undisclosed borrower. An agency lender provided the financing.
BOSTON — Computer software and services company PTC has relocated to a new 250,000-square-foot global headquarters in Boston’s Seaport District. PTC relocated its headquarters in Needham to 121 Seaport Blvd., a newly constructed 17-story, 400,000-square-foot office building. The property will house 1,000 of PTC’s 6,000 employees worldwide. The open design of PTC’s office includes conference rooms and meeting spaces around the building core on each floor as well as a themed work café and coffee space. The office will feature no private offices and no assigned seats. Cresa represented PTC in the site-selection process, lease administration, transaction management, workplace strategy and project management. Gilbane Building Co. served as construction manager and Margulies Perruzzi Architects served as architectural and interior designer on the project. A joint venture of American Realty Advisors and Norges Bank Real Estate Management owns 121 Seaport.
Although one of New England’s smallest geographical submarkets, spanning only 7.1 square miles, Cambridge packs a serious one-two punch between its thriving office and life science sectors. Routinely ranked as one the nation’s most densely populated cities, universities, research institutes and private corporations employ many of the 110,000 residents of Cambridge. Not surprisingly, 44 percent of those residents are highly educated millennials between the ages of 18 and 35, according to the most recent U.S. Census and American Community Survey. Those millennials form the unparalleled labor pool that has employers clamoring for talent. Hosting more than 230 life science and high-tech companies, research from CBRE suggests that Cambridge contains upwards of 700 start-ups, many of which are pioneered by entrepreneurial professionals spinning out from larger institutions. Known as the city of squares, Cambridge is divided into three distinct submarkets, each with their own distinctive flavor — East Cambridge, anchored by MIT and Kendall Square; Mid Cambridge, home to Harvard University and West Cambridge/Fresh Pond area. Collectively the city contains roughly 11.2 million and 14.6 million square feet of commercial office and life science space, respectively. Low Vacancy, High Rents Cambridge finished 2018 maintaining incredibly low office and life science vacancy …
PROVINCETOWN, MASS. — HFF has arranged an $11.7 million acquisition loan for the 129-room Harbor Hotel Provincetown in Massachusetts. Located at 698 Commercial St., the three-building seasonal boutique hotel includes an outdoor pool, patio, fire pit, cabana bar and pet-friendly rooms as well as an onsite lounge and restaurant. The hotel is less than two miles from the ferry port, which delivers tourists from Boston. Provincetown attracts more than 60,000 tourists each summer. Greg LaBine and Martha Nay of HFF secured a seven-year, fixed-rate acquisition loan on behalf of the borrower, subsidiary entities of funds managed by Linchris Hotel Corp. The lender was HarborOne Bank.
BOSTON — KS Partners LLC has acquired 15 Court Square, an 11-story office building with ground-floor retail space in downtown Boston. The sales price was undisclosed. The 82,000-square-foot property, which is also known as 15 Pi Alley, includes an on-site tailor, 24-hour maintenance and an ATM. At the time of sale, 15 Court Square was 98 percent leased. KS Partners acquired the building from Brickpoint Properties, which had owned the property since 1978. KS Partners plans to fully renovate the lobby and common areas of the property and add amenities such as a lounge, conference room, fitness center and bike room.
