HAVERHILL, MASS. — NorthMarq Capital’s Boston regional office has secured $2.5 million in acquisition financing for an office building in Haverhill. Located at 26 Parkridge Road, the property offers 42,000 square feet of office space. Ed Riekstins of NorthMarq Capital arranged financing, which has a 20-year term and a 25-year amortization schedule, through its correspondent relationship with a life insurance company.
CAMBRIDGE, MASS. — JLL Capital Markets team has brokered the sale of Blackstone Science Square, a Class A office/lab building in Cambridge. Centremark Properties sold the four-story, 78,672-square-foot property to Brickman Associates for $31.5 million. Located at 237 Putnam Ave. and 19-23 Blackstone St., the property has undergone $8.1 million of capital improvements over the past five years. The improvements include significant infrastructure upgrades to accommodate life science lab tenants and new lobby and common area finishes. Additionally, there is a 94-space parking lot adjacent to the building. Current tenants include Good Start Genetics Inc., Ambri, Genewiz and Cireca Thernostics. Frank Petz and Jessica Hughes of JLL led the JLL Investments Sales team on the transaction.
PLYMOUTH, MASS. — KeyPoint Partners has brokered the sale of West Plymouth Square, a shopping center located at the intersection of Route 44 and Route 80 in Plymouth. The asset sold for $7 million. Ocean State Job Lot, Planet Fitness, Dollar Tree, Papa Gino’s, Eastern Bank and Plymouth Liquors occupy the 127,847-square-foot shopping center. Jonathan Aron of KeyPoint Partners represented the seller, while Michael Scanio of Cambridge Capital Advisors procured the buyer.
BOSTON — Marcus & Millichap has brokered the sale of a four-property, net-leased drugstore portfolio. The portfolio sold for $38.6 million. The portfolio consists of a 14,320-square-foot Walgreens in Worchester, Mass., which sold for $9.4 million; a 15,013-square-foot CVS in Foxborough, Mass., which sold for $10.5 million; a 13,612-square-foot Walgreens in Merrimack, N.H., which sold for $7.4 million; and a 14,593-square-foot CVS in Clearwater, Fla., which sold for $11.4 million. Robert Horvath and Todd Tremblay of Marcus & Millichap’s Boston office represented the seller, a private New England-based real estate family, and the buyer, a private family completing a 1031 exchange, in the transaction. Kirk Felici of Marcus & Millichap’s Miami office is the firm’s broker of record in Florida.
NEWTON, MASS. — Skanska USA has completed a $6.7 million, 30,000-square-foot fit-out of the new Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) Urgent Care facility at Chestnut Hill Square in Newton. The new 30,000-square-foot center offers a variety of modern medical services and technologies, including orthopedics, sports medicine, physical/occupational therapy, radiology, gynecology, urgent care, surgical specialties and phlebotomy labs. For the fit-out, Skanska worked with BIDMC architect Linea 5 and RDK engineers to apply lean construction techniques to the project, which allowed the team to complete the project in seven months. Lean construction is a production management-based approach to product delivery that streamlines processes to maximize value and reduce waste throughout a project. Extensive off-site prefabrication included prefabricating plumbing fixtures, sink units and in-wall electrical and lighting units, reducing the need for on-site storage.
Boston is known for its top-notch universities that spawn world-class technology, pharmaceutical and bio firms, not to mention its leading money management and financial services base. These factors support one of the most vibrant office, residential and retail markets in the nation. Often overlooked, Boston’s industrial market may not be as glamorous as gleaming new office and multifamily projects rising along the waterfront, but its steady performance and strong recovery are impressive nonetheless. Vacancy in Boston’s 117 million-square-foot industrial market declined 1 percent between the second quarter of 2013 and mid-2014, from 13.2 percent to 12.1 percent. A paucity of new construction and deliveries suggests further vacancy declines. Only 41,000 square feet of industrial product has been delivered through midyear, and 76,000 square feet was under construction at that point. Looking ahead slightly, the industrial market is on track to absorb approximately 1.4 million square feet in 2014, with 680,000 square feet of absorption recorded through June. This total would exceed 2011 and 2012 totals but trail 2013’s 1.8 million square feet of net absorption. Boston’s Bread & Butter and E-commerce High land values and competition from markets such as Central and Northern New Jersey, which can serve broader populations …
MEDFORD, MASS. — Criterion Development Partners has selected WinnResidential, the property management arm of WinnCompanies, to manage its newest apartment community in Medford. Located on Mystic Valley Parkway, Lumiere consists of 164 residential units with a mix of studio, one- and two-bedroom units. Each apartment features hardwood floors, stone counter tops, expansive tall windows and private patios or balconies. On-site amenities include a swimming pool with sun deck, green deck with community garden, a game area, fitness center and a WiFi lounge with seating for private parties and individual use. The first phase, which is currently open for occupancy, features 48 apartments and the sun deck. The second phase will open in January and the final phase will open in February. WinnResidential manages nearly 500 communities across 23 states nationwide with more than 200 located in Massachusetts.
AMHERST, MASS. — CBRE/New England’s Capital Markets team has brokered the sale of Rolling Green Apartments, an apartment community in Amherst. GTP-RG Amherst, an affiliate of Equity Residential, sold the 204-unit, garden-style apartment community to an affiliate of Beacon Communities LLC for $30.3 million. Built in the early 1970s, the community consists of 16 two-story, garden-style buildings with a mix of 64 one-bedroom, 103 two-bedroom apartments, 31 three-bedroom apartments and six four-bedroom units. The apartments range in size from 759 to 1,158 square feet, with 76 of the units consisting of a townhouse configuration. The community was originally developed with MassHousing financing. However, when the financing matured in 2012, the affordable housing restrictions also went away. Beacon is working in collaboration with the town of Amherst and the Department of Housing and Community Development to secure the resources necessary to maintain Rolling Green as a high-quality, mixed-income housing property.
BOSTON — HFF has arranged $56.5 million in permanent financing for the Residence Inn Boston/Back Bay Fenway Park, a 175-room extended stay hotel located at 125 Brookline Ave. in Boston’s Fenway/Kenmore neighborhood. HFF secured the 10-year, fixed-rate loan for the borrower, Boylston Properties, through Cornerstone Real Estate Advisers on behalf of an institutional lender. Completed in July 2013, the eight-story, 154,684-square-foot hotel offers a mix of studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom guestrooms. Hotel amenities include a breakfast area, lounge/bar, meeting room, indoor pool, fitness center, outdoor terrace on the top floor and below-grade parking for 50 cars. Additionally, the property includes 6,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space leased to Bar Louie’s and Santander. Fred Wittman and Robyn King of HFF represented the borrower in the transaction.
ANDOVER, MASS. — A joint venture between KS Partners and Oaktree Capital Management has acquired Brickstone Square, a three-building office park located in Andover. Originally constructed between 1919 and 1934 as the world headquarters for American Woolen Company, the three buildings are located at 100, 200 and 300 Brickstone Square and total more than 1 million square feet. In 1986, the property was renovated and converted into office space. On-site amenities include a full-service cafeteria, fitness center, on-site daycare center, convenience store and more than 3,000 parking spaces. Kerry Olson Hawkins, Jason Levendusky and Jake Borden of CBRE/New England have been selected to lease the property.
