SUTTON, MASS. — Galaxy Development has purchased five acres for an addition to the Pleasant Valley Crossing Shopping Center in Sutton. The new parcel will accommodate a 5,500-square-foot restaurant and a multi-tenant, 19,000-square-foot retail plaza. MidPoint Engineering will submit plans for permits this spring and the developer expects to start construction in the fall, with store openings planned for summer 2018. Todd Lornell was the broker for the seller, Fuller Hamlets Soccer Club. Pleasant Valley Crossing is a grocery-anchored project with current tenants including Market 32 by Price Chopper, Five Guys, Verizon, Great Clips, Q-Nails, Pleasant Valley Dental and UniBank. Additional land for the project can accommodate up to 130,000 square feet of retail. When complete, the project will total 225,000 square feet of retail space plus a residential parcel that can accommodate multifamily or seniors housing.
EVERETT, MASS. — Natixis has provided a $38 million floating-rate loan on Wellington Parkside Apartments for Boston-based Taurus Investment Holdings. Proceeds from the loan will fund the acquisition and lease-up of the 190-unit, Class A multifamily property. Wellington Parkside Apartments is located in Everett, four miles north of the Boston central business district and one mile from the site of the Wynn Boston Harbor Casino. Taurus has retained Boston-based The Dolben Co. to handle leasing and management of the property. John Kelly of CBRE’s Boston office arranged the financing.
BOSTON & LYNN, MASS. — On behalf of Helge Capital, CBRE New England’s multifamily debt and structured finance team has secured a $56.3 million first mortgage loan to finance the recapitalization of a 19-building multifamily portfolio in metro Boston and Lynn, Mass. The assets consist of workforce housing of both market-rate and affordable apartments. CBRE’s John Kelly arranged the financing through a national lender on behalf of Helge Capital, a commercial real estate investment and operating company specializing in multifamily and development properties in the greater Boston area.
BOSTON, CAMBRIDGE & BRIGHTON, MASS. — KeyBank Real Estate Capital has secured $38.7 million in Fannie Mae financing for a four-property multifamily portfolio located in Massachusetts. A $20.7 million first mortgage loan was secured by Boylston Apartments, a 129-unit property built in 1927 in Boston; a $10.1 million first mortgage loan was secured by Cambridge Apartments, a 56-unit property built in 1880 in Cambridge; and a $7.9 million first mortgage loan was secured by Commonwealth & Lothian Apartments, two properties totaling 61-units built between 1925 and 1928 in Brighton. Hayley Suminski of KeyBank’s commercial mortgage group arranged the financing with 10-year terms, five years of interest-only payments and 30-year amortization schedules. The non-recourse loans were used to refinance existing debt.
HOPKINTON, MASS. — SVN | Parsons Commercial Group | Boston, in partnership with AIS Development, has brokered two office leases totaling 70,000 square feet at 35 Parkwood Dr. in Hopkinton. After acquiring the unoccupied 160,000-square-foot research and development property in November 2016, the partnership has begun a renovation and marketing plan. The building, which formerly served as EMC’s headquarters, has been vacant for more than 10 years. Located in the Elmwood Business Park, the property now boasts two tenants: Illinois Tool Works and PrismHR. Victor Galvani of SVN | Parsons Commercial Group | Boston is handling the leasing at the building.
BRIGHTON, MASS. — Transwestern Consulting Group (TCG) has arranged a construction and permanent financing loan on behalf of NB Development Group for 40 Guest St. in Brighton. According to public records, the loan amount was $76 million. TCG’s Chris Skeffington and Andrew Stone, along with NB Development’s Jim Halliday and Kevin Doyle, arranged the loan with East Boston Savings Bank. Part of the Boston Landing mixed-use development, 40 Guest St. is a planned 160,000-square-foot facility that will house the Boston Celtics’ new training and practice facility known as the Auerbach Center at New Balance World Headquarters. The project also includes two floors of Class A laboratory and office space totaling 83,500 square feet, plus 5,700 square feet of retail space. The project broke ground in November 2016, with completion expected in mid-2018. TCG provides leasing and property management services for Boston Landing.
BOSTON — After more than three years of ownership, Shorenstein Properties has sold Center Plaza, a 741,200-square-foot mixed-use asset in downtown Boston. Synergy Investments, a Boston-based real estate owner and investor, and GreenOak, an international real estate investment and lending firm, have jointly purchased Center Plaza for $365 million. Developed by Beacon Capital in phases in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Center Plaza consists of three interconnected, nine-story buildings comprising more than 600,000 square feet of office space, 77,000 square feet of street-level retail and a below-grade parking garage with 575 spaces. Situated at 1-3 Center Plaza, the retail and office development features nearly 875 feet of frontage along Cambridge Street. Center Plaza, which is currently 60 percent leased to 31 tenants, sits at the entrance to Boston’s Beacon Hill neighborhood. The project is situated across the street from Boston’s City Hall. Shorenstein Properties purchased Center Plaza in January 2014 for $307 million, according to the Boston Business Journal. The media outlet also reported that Shorenstein’s planned $25 million overhaul of Center Plaza never took shape. The NGKF Capital Markets Boston team led by Robert Griffin, Edward Maher, Matthew Pullen and James Tribble represented Shorenstein Properties, which sold the …
BEDFORD, ANDOVER & BILLERICA, MASS. — Avison Young, as buyer representative for Atlantic Management, has arranged the purchase of three office/flex buildings in Massachusetts. Atlantic Management acquired the 211,377-square-foot portfolio from Wheelock-Novaya for $26.5 million. The assets are located at 15 Crosby Dr. in Bedford, 200 Bulfinch Dr. in Andover and 5 Federal St. in Billerica. Tenants at the properties include Ocular Therapeutix and Becton Dickinson. Scott Jamieson of Avison Young worked with Joe Zink and Steve Wyman of Atlantic Management on the buyer’s side, while Wheelock-Novaya was represented by Gary Kamin of Wheelock Street Capital and Scott Tully and Shawn Hawthorne of Novaya Real Estate Ventures.
BILLERICA and MARLBOROUGH, MASS. — Colliers International has secured acquisition financing for a two-building portfolio purchase consisting of 734 Forest St. in Marlborough and 35 Dunham Road in Billerica. The 120,000-square-foot flex/industrial portfolio sold to a New England-based real estate investment firm. Colliers secured the acquisition financing from Belmont Savings. Adam Coppola, Tom Welch, John Poole and Tonia Jenkins of Colliers arranged financing.
Retail vacancy levels declined in 2012 and 2013 in Eastern Massachusetts following several years of rising vacancy rates during the Great Recession. But since 2013, vacancy rates have been on the rise as shopping habits continue to tilt toward online options. In 2016, retail inventory gained modestly, reaching 194.2 million square feet, an increase of 0.5 percent, although no major center opened during the year. The region added 488,800 square feet of vacant retail space, and the vacancy rate increased to 9 percent. Big box closings — notably Sam’s Club, JCPenney, and Kmart — and the departures of Citibank and City Sports, were the primary cause of increasing vacancy. Nonetheless, the region experienced positive absorption, netting 573,600 square feet. As reported in The KeyPoint Report: Eastern Massachusetts/Greater Boston, Boston and Cambridge ranked one and two in the list of top 10 towns by retail square footage. Abington tops the rankings for lowest vacancy rate. Eight of the top 10 towns with the highest vacancy rates are repeats from the previous year; new additions include Wrentham, site of the 135,000-square-foot Wrentham Crossing, which is vacant and currently for sale. The under-2,500-square-foot size classification remains the largest segment of the market, and …