BOSTON — CBRE has arranged the $26.2 million sale of the building that houses The Skating Club of Boston. Located at 1240 Soldiers Field Road in Boston’s Brighton neighborhood, the figure skating club, which was founded in 1912, is the third oldest in the United States. Mark Reardon and Matt Furey of CBRE represented the seller, The Skating Club of Boston, in the transaction. The buyer was the Davis Cos.
While other U.S. cities have demonstrated volatile economic markets, Boston has sustained a strong, healthy economy for more than 40 years. This economic health coupled with the city’s diversity of industries has had a lasting, positive impact and increased demand for commercial space in the greater Boston market. The snapshot of the Class A and B, lab and office market is strong but shows some signs of regression. Today, overall vacancy for lab and office including sublet space is 12.8 percent, according to research from Colliers International. When you break down the numbers by region, the current downtown Boston office market has 71 million square feet, with a 9.2 percent vacancy rate. Cambridge has 23.6 million square feet of space and 3.8 percent vacancy and the suburbs total 123.5 million square feet with 16.6 percent vacancy. The entire Boston area absorption for lab and office space is 5.2 million square feet. While those stats are favorable compared to the last two years, (2017 with 1.8 million square feet and 2016 with 1 million square feet), they are dwarfed by 2015 which had absorption of 5.8 million square feet. It is also the first time that Class B rents have topped …
BOSTON AND LYNN, MASS. — CBRE has arranged a $62 million loan to refinance a 19-building apartment portfolio in Boston and Lynn. The assets consist of workforce housing with a combination of both market-rate and affordable apartments. John Kelly of CBRE secured financing on behalf of the owner, Helge Capital. The lender was undisclosed.
MORRIS PLAINS, N.J. — Cushman & Wakefield has arranged the sale of a three-story office building in Morris Plains. The sales price was undisclosed. Located at 201 Littleton Road, the 88,910-square-foot property is set on a nearly 17-acre site. The property was 44 percent leased at the time of sale to a tenant roster that includes the State of New Jersey. Andrew Merin, Andrew Schwartz and Kubby Tischler of Cushman & Wakefield represented the seller, Mack-Cali Realty Corp., in the transaction. The buyer was Chopp Holdings, a local investor.
BOSTON — Colliers has arranged the $19.6 million sale of a mixed-use property in Boston’s Downtown Crossing neighborhood. Located at 29-35 Temple Place, the recently renovated property consists of 42, short-term housing units as well as ground-floor retail currently leased to Democracy Brewing, a restaurant and brewery. Christopher Sower, Bruce Lusa, Jonathan Bryant, John Flaherty, Maggie Collins and Patrick Boyle of Colliers represented the buyer, Premier Capital Partners, in the transaction. The seller was undisclosed.
DORCHESTER, MASS. — Marcus & Millichap has brokered the $2.4 million sale of a multifamily building in Dorchester. Located at 12 Lyndhurst St., the 12-unit property consists of six one-bedroom and six two-bedroom units. Evan Griffith and Tony Pepdjonovic of Marcus & Millichap’s Boston office represented the undisclosed seller in the transaction. The buyer was also undisclosed.
DEVENS, MASS. — Nypro Inc. has signed a 247,060-square-foot lease renewal and expansion at 112 Barnum Road in Devens. The 402,249-square-foot manufacturing facility was constructed in 2008 and is located within the Devens Industrial Park. Nypro Inc. expanded its lease from 215,790 square feet to 247,060 square feet. J.R. McDonald, Torin Taylor and Ross Gaudet of NKF represented the property ownership group, Artemis Real Estate Partners, Drake Real Estate Partners and Pacer Partners, in the transaction.
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 …
