HOPKINTON, MASS. — R.W. Holmes has negotiated the sale of a multi-tenanted flex building, located at 227-233 South St. in Hopkinton. 227-229 South Street LLC purchased the 43,000-square-foot property for $5.35 million from Mar S. Maple Realty Trust. Precision Digital Corp. will renovate and occupy 21,000 square feet of the property. Craig Johnston of R.W. Holmes procured and represented the buyer, while John Eysenbach, also of R.W. Holmes, represented the seller in the transaction.
BOSTON — An affiliate of The Grossman Companies Inc. has acquired a self-storage facility in Boston’s Roslindale neighborhood. Located at 34-44 Lochdale Road, the 44,000-square-foot facility features 366 storage units, as well as 17,000 square feet of commercial space that is leased to two tenants. The property was purchased for $8.8 million, including a $6.4 million acquisition loan provided by Brookline Bank. The name of the seller was not released.
WAKEFIELD, MASS. — Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide has opened its third Four Points hotel in the metro Boston area. Located at 1 Audubon Road in Wakefield, newly converted Four Points by Sheraton Wakefield Boston Hotel & Conference features 280 guestrooms, an 18,000-square-foot conference center, full-service dining and an indoor pool. The hotel is owned and operated by Meera LLC, an entity of Jamsan Hotel Management. Additionally, the hotel is scheduled to complete a $5 million renovation to upgrade all guestrooms and public areas by early next year.
WORCESTER, MASS. — Hertz Investment Group has acquired Chestnut Place, a two-building office complex located in Worcester’s central business district. The 218,625-square-foot asset, including One Chestnut Place and Two Chestnut Place, sold for $14 million. Constructed in 1990, the 183,781-square-foot One Chestnut Place is currently 98 percent leased to tenants, including Fallon Community Health, UBS Financial Services and Sullivan Group Insurance. Two Chestnut Place, which was built in the 1800s, features 38,844 square feet of Class B office space. Two levels of underground parking and an outdoor plaza connect the two buildings.
By all measures, 2014 was the strongest year in recent memory for the Boston office market. With an approximate 1.8 million square feet of positive net absorption, nearly 5 million square feet of tenant demand, and continued development around the city, Boston remained one the country’s strongest markets. It’s not news that proximity to parking, public transportation, restaurants, bars and other amenities keeps employees happy. But Boston’s escalating prices mean cost-conscious companies must evaluate their downtown options — which means they have begun trading other items of importance, such as locational cachet, space configuration, look, feel and ultimately building type, for access to amenities. As a result, if 2013 was the year of the Seaport, then 2014 was the year of Downtown Crossing (DTX). With the renovation of 10 Summer Street and Havas’ 120,000-square-foot move to the Millennium redevelopment complete, other companies have followed suit. The third and fourth quarters brought more than 250,000 square feet of deals to 500 Washington Street. Carbonite and Sonos took 52,000 square feet and 170,000 square feet, respectively, in the third quarter, while Safari Books Online took 30,000 square feet in the fourth. Prominent national non-profit Year Up also consolidated its headquarters near DTX …
LOWELL, MASS. — DTZ has brokered the sale of Connector Park, two office buildings located in Lowell. Hudson Advisors sold the 199,783-square-foot property for $14.6 million to KS Partners. The asset consists of 41 Wellman Street, which is 100 percent leased on a long-term basis to three tenants, and 59 Lowes Ways, which is a 66 percent leased multi-tenant office building. David Pergola and Brian Doherty of DTZ Boston represented the seller in the transaction.
QUINCY, MASS. — Massachusetts Teachers Association (MTA) has signed a long-term lease for office space at Heritage Landing in Quincy. MTA will utilize the top two floors, totaling 46,000 square feet, as its new headquarters. The space is being designed to meet the needs of MTA. Project partners include Spagnolo Gisness & Associates Inc. and WB Engineers Consultants. MTA is slated to take occupancy of the space in November. Sean Lynch of JLL represented the tenant in the deal. Peter Brown of Campanelli along with Mike Frisoli, Matthew Morgan, Dave Martel and Molly Davis of Cushman & Wakefield represented the owner, Campanelli, in the transaction. Additional terms of the transaction were not released.
BOSTON — Berkshire Income Realty has acquired Gatehouse 75, an apartment community located in the Charlestown neighborhood of Boston. Metric Corp. sold the 99-unit Class A apartment community for an undisclosed price. Completed in 2014, Gatehouse 75 features a clubroom, fitness center and roof deck, as well as underground parking. Additionally, the property is located near Boston’s North End, Financial District, Government Center, Cambridge and Somerville neighborhoods.
While it was unfortunate to see retail vacancy in Eastern Massachusetts on the upswing during 2014, it was more than offset by new retail construction as major development resurfaced. At year-end, total retail inventory was 191.6 million square feet, an increase from the prior year of approximately 2.1 million square feet. Vacant retail space in the region was up more than 1.3 million square feet, due to major contractions and liquidations such as Building 19, Dots, and Shaw’s Supermarkets. Net absorption ended the year ahead by 712,500 square feet. The 10 towns with the greatest retail supply remain in place from a year ago with one exception: thanks to new Walmart Supercenter and Sam’s Club locations, Fall River replaced Peabody. The top retail hub is Boston, followed by Cambridge, Natick, Brockton and Framingham. Among communities with at least 500,000 square feet of retail space, five towns broke into the top 10 with lowest vacancy rates: Foxboro, Hingham, Hudson, Danvers, and Everett. Abington remained at the top with a 1.2 percent vacancy rate. Foxborough made the biggest leap — up from 58th last year — as the result of Patriot Place filling significant vacancy, and Ocean State Job Lot opening in …
SALISBURY, MASS. — Marcus & Millichap has brokered the sale of a retail property located at Two Lafayette Road in Salisbury. SPC Acquisition Company LLC purchased the 13,225-square-foot building for $7.4 million from Salisbury Ventures LLC. The property is occupied by CVS, under a 25-year lease with four five-year extension options. Bob Horvath and Todd Tremblay of Marcus & Millichap represented the seller, while Laurie Ann Drinkwater and Seth Richard, also of Marcus & Millichap, represented the buyer in the transaction.
