CANTON, MASS. — Calare Properties has purchased an industrial property, located at 15-21 University Road in Canton, for an undisclosed price in an off-market transaction. Situated on 17 acres, the 103,200-square-foot property was vacant at the time of sale. The property features 14 loading docks, six drive-in docks, more than 300 parking spaces and flexible floor plans. The name of the seller was not released.
CAMBRIDGE, MASS. — Twinning Properties has broken ground on Mass+Main, a multifamily property located in Cambridge’s Central Square. The 308,000-square-foot property will feature 308 mixed-income apartments and 17,000 square feet of retail space overlooking Lafayette Square. The project will offer 248 market-rate and 60 affordable apartments in three buildings: a tower, a six-story building with studios and roommate units, and a four-story building designed for families. Designed by CBT Architects to LEED Gold standards, Mass+Main will be a sustainable green community with green roof terraces, energy tracking, wind energy and smoke-free apartments. The $190 million development is a joint venture between Twinning Properties and its capital partner Mass PRIM. Construction of the three buildings will be completed in phases from fall 2018 through mid-2020.
Despite the maturing commercial real estate cycle, Boston’s thriving economy continues to generate positive momentum for the metro’s multifamily property marketplace. Over the 12-month period ending June 30, 2017, area employers added 55,700 positions, growing the employment base by 2.1 percent. Job creation was driven by the typically high-wage healthcare and professional fields, and more than 30 percent of the new roles created were in office-using sectors. This healthy growth has supported a surge in household formation, which — along with the high cost of homeownership — is sustaining substantial demand for rental units. The significant affordability gap between renting and homeownership favors renting over homeownership by $591 per month. This, in combination with rising office-using employment, continues to boost apartment demand, which will support this year’s robust construction pipeline. Developers are on track to deliver more than 9,500 units to the marketplace in 2017, marking the highest point of the current cycle. Builders have focused their efforts in the urban core, particularly in the Fenway, Brookline and Brighton submarkets, and in first-ring suburbs. Nearly two-thirds of incoming units will be inside the city limits or in the closest suburban markets like Cambridge and Revere. The two largest deliveries each …
BOSTON — Newmark Knight Frank has arranged the sale of an office building located at 55 Seaport Blvd. in Boston’s Seaport District. Boston Global Investors sold the property to a member company of Zurich North America for $23.5 million. Constructed in 2016, the 13,500-square-foot office and retail building is fully leased to Boston Global Investors. Robert Griffin, Edward Maher, Matthew Pullen, Justin Smith, James Tribble, Samantha Hallowell, David Martel and Jonathan Martin of Newmark Knight Frank represented the seller, while Roy Rosenbaum and Sean Bannon of Zurich Alternative Asset Management advised the buyer in the transaction.
WATERTOWN, MASS. — LCB Senior Living and Washington Capital Management have received a $45 million loan for the recapitalization of The Residence at Watertown Square, located at 20 Summer St. in Watertown. Built in 2014, the property features 90 independent living, assisted living and memory care units. Rick Swartz, Jay Wagner, Jim Dooley and Caryn Donahue of Cushman & Wakefield arranged the financing for the borrower. LCB will continue to operate the community.
BOSTON — Related Beal has placed the final beam in the redevelopment of 40 Water Street, which formerly served as the Fidelity Investment headquarters. The redeveloped property, called Congress Square, will create a 24-hour mixed-use environment connecting Government Center, Faneuil Hall, Post Office Square and Downtown Crossing. The building features a glass curtainwall addition on top of the more than 320,000-square-foot office building. The redevelopment also includes preserving the landmarked property’s efficient and versatile floor plates, active rooftops and retail and restaurant space on the lower and ground floor. The redevelopment plan for the building includes office, residential, hospitality and more than 43,000 square feet of retail space, as well as the transformation of Quaker Lane into a pedestrian-oriented food and beverage destination with boutiques and cafés. Related Beal Construction and Consigli Construction Co. are general contractors for the project and Arrowstreet is serving as architect. Congress Square is slated to open in 2018.
CHELMSFORD, MASS. — Digital Federal Credit Union has purchased an office building located at 297 Billerica Road in Chelmsford for an undisclosed price. The three-story, 129,000-square-foot building features a state-of-the-art data center, outdoor grilling and seating area, training rooms, in-house café, and shower and locker rooms. The buyer plans to use the facility to accommodate its continued expansion. The property was built and formerly occupied by Kronos Inc., which recently relocated its global headquarters for Lowell, Mass. Mark Reardon, Peter Dominski, Alex Plaisted and Ben Roopenian of CBRE/New England represented the seller, Anchor Line Partners, on behalf of Kronos. Garry Holmes of R.W. Holmes Realty represented the buyer in the deal.
The Financial District, Back Bay, and Seaport continue to experience strong tenant demand with a vacancy of 10.3 percent and continued rent appreciation. The Seaport, which has experienced tremendous growth for the last four years, received national attention with GE committing to move its corporate headquarters to the market and continues to make headlines with Amazon committing to 150,000 square feet. In addition, 121 Seaport Boulevard just leased to PTC (250,000 square feet) and Alexion (150,000 square feet). One of the biggest trends throughout Boston continues to be the popularity of the Class B buildings. Most people think of Cambridge as one of the premier lab markets in the world. Cambridge has the lowest office vacancy of all the submarkets in Greater Boston at 4.2 percent, making it one of the strongest office markets in the country. Even pre-leasing is strong, with Alexandria Real Estate receiving commitments for all 431,000 square feet at 100 Binney Street, signing Facebook and Bristol-Meyers Squibb as the lead tenants. Space is so tight that, even when you include sublet space, a tenant looking for more than 50,000 square feet only has four options in the submarket. Top Class A product is now achieving rents …
PEABODY, MASS. — KeyPoint Partners has arranged the sale of Route One Marketplace, a retail property located at 216 Newbury St. in Peabody. An undisclosed seller sold the property to the owner and operator of FUNCITY and Aero Trampoline Parks for $6.1 million. The buyer plans to open a FUNCITY facility at the property in spring 2018. Work Out World, Namco, Mass Bay Hockey Center and Revival Church are tenants at the 68,530-square-foot property. Don Mace of KeyPoint Partners negotiated the transaction.
WORCESTER, MASS. — Senate Construction has completed the construction of a 615,600-square-foot distribution center located at 150 Blackstone River Road in Worcester. The property was developed by 150 Blackstone River Road LLC, a joint venture between Mid-States Packaging Inc. and GFI Partners. Imperial Distributors occupies 325,000 square feet of property, with G-3 occupying 200,000 square feet and Mid-States Packaging occupying the remaining space. Senate performed the design-build of the foundation, superstructure, HVAC, fire protection, plumbing and electrical work. Jim Thornton of Andover, Mass.-based Applied Form and Space Architects provided architectural services for the project.
