WRENTHAM, MASS. — Trammell Crow Residential has broken ground on a 240-unit apartment development in Wrentham, approximately 30 miles south of Boston. The complex, which will be called Alexan Wrentham, will anchor a 50-acre mixed-use development with restaurants, a hotel and an assisted living facility. The property is adjacent to the Wrentham State Forest, which offers miles of hiking and biking trails.Slated to be completed in the fall of 2019, the community will feature one-, two-, and three-bedroom units with stainless steel appliances, tile back splashes and hardwood flooring. Amenities will include a 7,000-square-foot clubhouse, fitness center, pet park and outdoor pool. Trammell Crow is serving as developer and general contractor for the project.
BOSTON — San Francisco-based Iconiq Capital has invested in the 90-year old Taj Boston hotel, located at 15 Arlington St. in Boston. Financial terms were not disclosed, but the Boston Business Journal reports the private equity firm — which manages money for Facebook founder Mark Zuckerburg — acquired a $196 million stake in the property. A group of investors including New England Development, Eastern Real Estate, Rockpoint Group, Lubert-Adler and Highgate originally acquired the 273-room hotel in 2016 for $125 million, and will retain an interest in the asset. The new partnership plans to execute a major capital improvement program that will include a comprehensive renovation of guestrooms, public areas and food and beverage outlets. According to a release, hotel owners have spent the past two years working with a team of architectural and interior design firms, consultants and engineers to develop a new vision for the property. A construction timeline for the project was not disclosed. Situated at the corner of Newbury and Arlington streets in Boston’s high-end Back Bay neighborhood, the hotel overlooks the Boston Public Garden and is adjacent to the city’s retail district. Amenities include nightly turndown, a 24-hour fitness center, business center, and onsite dining and bar …
CHELMSFORD, MASS. — On behalf of Tritower Financial Group, CBRE/New England has secured three new office leases totaling 75,659 square feet and one lease renewal for 59,670 square feet at 300 Apollo Drive in Chelmsford. The property is located 34 miles northwest of Boston. Recent transactions include a 29,033-square-foot lease signed by the HCL Corp.; a 23,833-square-foot lease signed by software company By Appointment Only; and a 22,793-square-foot lease signed by US Alliance Federal Credit Union. Axis Communications, an IP networking solutions company, renewed its 59,670-square-foot lease. Tritower Financial, the owner of the property since 2014, recently made significant upgrades to the building’s amenities. The upgrades include a full service café, a game room and a fitness center with Peloton bikes and showers.
BOSTON — Fantini & Gorga has arranged $13.4 million in permanent financing for a five-story, mixed-use property located at 900 Beacon St. in the Audubon Circle neighborhood of Boston. The property, known as Gateway Boston, was completed in 2016 and features a mix of 32 residential units on four floors plus 4,500 square feet of street-level retail. Tim O’Donnell, Casimir Groblewski and Despina Hixon of Fantini & Gorga arranged the financing, a fixed-rate loan for a period of 15 years, with a life insurance company. The borrower was not disclosed.
WAKEFIELD AND ACTON, MASS. — Colliers International has brokered the $45.2 million sale of a two-community, 185-unit apartment portfolio outside of Boston. The two apartment properties are located at 105-109 Hopkins St. in Wakefield and 117 Central St. in Acton. The properties offer close proximity to the MBTA commuter rail stations in Wakefield and Acton, respectively. Colliers represented both the buyer, OBP Partners, and the seller, True North Capital Partners, in the transaction.
NORTON MASS. — JLL Capital Markets has brokered the sale of East Main Apartments in Norton for $53.6 million. Campanelli Construction built the 188-unit multifamily community in 2017. Michael Coyne, Travis D’Amato, Kevin Gleason and Brendan Shields of JLL arranged the sale on behalf of Campanelli and Thorndike Development. The buyer was Jones St. Investment Partners. Amenities at the Class A apartment community include a swimming pool, outdoor kitchen with grills, fitness center and an expansive clubhouse. The property is located 40 miles south of Boston.
MALVERN AND LANGHORNE, PA., FRANKLIN, MASS. — Goldman Sachs Asset Management Private Real Estate (GSAM) has acquired a portfolio of five industrial flex properties in suburban Philadelphia and Boston totaling 525,000 square feet for an undisclosed amount. The properties are located in Malvern and Langhorne Pa., and Franklin, Mass. The addition of the five properties brings GSAM Private Real Estate’s industrial portfolio in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions to 13 properties totaling 2.4 million square feet. GSAM Private Real Estate represented itself in the transaction. The seller was not disclosed.
LITTLETON AND MIDDLEBOROUGH, MASS. — JLL Capital Markets has arranged a $36.3 million loan for L&B Realty Advisors to finance the purchase of a two-building industrial portfolio in suburban Boston. L&B Realty Advisors acquired the portfolio on behalf of an institutional client. The 775,000-square-foot portfolio consists of two warehouse distribution buildings, one in Littleton and the other in Middleborough. Both buildings are fully leased, with the 275,000-square-foot building at 154 Campanelli Drive in Middleborough occupied by a single tenant. The 480,000-square-foot building at 1 Distribution Center Circle in Littleton is leased to six tenants. A life insurance company provided the 10-year loan.
PREIT has signed three new tenants at Dartmouth Mall in Dartmouth, a city in southeast Massachusetts. Local retailer Newbury Comics will open a 3,900-square-foot store this spring. In the fall, Forever 21 will open an 11,500-square-foot location, and EbLens will open a 6,000-square-foot store. The new leases come on the heels of several recent openings, including a new 23,000-square-foot H&M, and new Encore and Torrid stores. Dartmouth Mall’s AMC Theatres was renovated in 2015.
CAMBRIDGE, MASS. — Fantini & Gorga has arranged a $30 million loan to refinance a 61,000-square-foot office building in Cambridge. The property, located at 784 Memorial Drive and owned by an affiliate of the Bullfinch Companies, was originally built in 1937 and underwent renovations in 1999 and 2014. Harvard University recently executed a long-term lease for the entire building with plans to house a technology services department there. Wayne Clough and Despina Hixon of Fantini & Gorga arranged the financing with one of its correspondent life insurance companies. The building is located along the Charles River in the Cambridgeport neighborhood, halfway between the campuses of Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.