BOSTON — MassHousing has provided $205 million in financing for 10 affordable seniors housing communities totaling 931 units that are located in various parts of Massachusetts. The borrower, Providence Realty Investment LLC, will use the proceeds to refinance existing debt and preserve affordability. Providence Realty Investment previously utilized $125 million from MassHousing to purchase the communities in 2011. At that time, nearly a third of the 931 apartments involved were at risk of being converted to market rents and being lost from the state’s inventory of affordable housing. That transaction ensured that rents at the 10 properties would remain affordable for lower-income renters for at least 60 years. Rockport Mortgage worked on behalf of Provident Realty to place the loan with MassHousing.
CAMBRIDGE, MASS. — A partnership between Boston-based developer Anchor Line Partners and international asset management firm Northwood Investors has topped out 60 First Street, a 215,000-square-foot life sciences project located across the Charles River from Boston in Cambridge. The five-story property, which is a redevelopment of the former Sears building, includes ground-floor retail space and has been fully preleased. Biotech startup Prime Medicine has committed to 148,000 square feet across three floors, and RNA editing company Korro Bio has leased 50,000 square feet across two floors. Full completion of the project is slated for early 2023.
BURLINGTON, MASS. — Developer Nordblom Co., in partnership with Life Time Living, has broken ground on a 167-unit multifamily project in Burlington, a northern suburb of Boston. Residents will have access to memberships at the adjacent athletic resort, concierge services and work-from home amenities. The property is situated within the 150-acre Northwest Park mixed-use development and will include an affordable housing component. Completion is slated for summer 2023.
BOSTON — The Wentworth Institute of Technology, a private university founded in Boston in 1904, will open a 640,000-square-foot life sciences facility at 500 Huntington Ave. in the city’s Longwood Medical District. Wentworth has selected a joint venture between The Fallon Co., Owens Cos. and Waldwin Development Co. to develop the property. The project is expected to create about 1,900 construction jobs and 1,500 full-time jobs upon completion. A construction timeline for the development, which will include retail and restaurant space, has not yet been finalized.
BELLINGHAM, MASS. — Newmark has negotiated the sale of Bellingham Distribution Center, a 345,000-square-foot industrial property located about 40 miles southwest of Boston. The facility was fully leased to restaurant equipment and foodservices supplier TriMark USA at the time of sale. A partnership between global investment manager Barings and Dallas-based Lincoln Property Co. originally developed the building, which features a clear height of 36 feet, 70 loading docks and 45 trailer parking spaces, in 2021. Robert Griffin, Edward Maher, Matthew Pullen, Tony Coskren, Brian Pinch, Samantha Hallowell and Nickolas Revers of Newmark represented the seller in the transaction. LaSalle Property Fund purchased the asset for an undisclosed price.
SUNDERLAND, MASS. — MassHousing has provided $41.2 million in permanent financing for North 116 Flats, a newly built residential community in Sunderland, located in the northern central part of the state. Of the property’s 150 units, 38 are reserved for households earning 80 percent or less of the area median income. The remaining 112 market-rate units feature 329 beds that serve students at the nearby University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Amenities include a community building with common, entertainment, fitness and study areas, as well as dog parks, grilling stations and fire pits. Stuart I. Roosth designed the property, and Western Builders served as the general contractor. The borrower and developer was Landmark Properties Inc.
BRAINTREE, MASS. — Global medical technology company Integra has signed a 100,000-square-foot life sciences lease at 400 Wood Road in Braintree, a southern suburb of Boston. Hilco Redevelopment Partners purchased the 156,000-square-foot property in 2019 and converted it into a life sciences facility. Integra plans to take occupancy of the new space, which it will use to manufacture surgical reconstruction devices, in 2025. The move is expected to bring about 150 new jobs to the local economy. Cushman & Wakefield represented both the tenant and landlord in the lease negotiations.
EAST CAMBRIDGE, MASS. — A joint venture between LCOR, a development firm with three offices in the mid-Atlantic region, and San Francisco-based DivcoWest has begun leasing Park 151, a 468-unit apartment community located across the Charles River from Boston in East Cambridge. The 20-story building houses studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom units, 392 of which are market-rate apartments, 54 of which are affordable and 22 of which are penthouses. In addition, Park 151 features 19,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space. Amenities include a pool and lounge area, outdoor grilling stations, a fitness center, indoor and outdoor yoga spaces, a terrace and coworking and micro-office spaces. Rents start at roughly $2,900 per month for a studio apartment.
SOMERVILLE, MASS. — A development team of DLJ Real Estate Capital Partners and Leggat McCall Properties has completed 101 South Street, a 289,000-square-foot life sciences project in Somerville, located on the northern outskirts of Boston. The building is the first of four master-planned life sciences facilities within the 1.8 million-square-foot Boynton Yards development. Architecture firms Spagnolo Gisness & Associates and Hashim Sarkis Studios designed the project, and Shawmut Design & Construction served as the general contractor. Flagship Pioneering and its affiliates lease 280,000 square feet of the nine-story building.
CAMBRIDGE, MASS. — CBRE has negotiated the $103 million sale of Flats on First, a newly built, 136-unit apartment complex in Cambridge. Designed by Perkins Eastman and constructed by Tocci Building Cos., Flats on First comprises two buildings that house a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom units, as well as 15,800 square feet of retail space and a 142-space underground parking garage. Amenities include a clubroom, fitness center, rooftop deck, open-air amphitheater and a landscaped courtyard. Sixteen apartments are reserved as affordable housing for residents earning 80 percent or less of the area median income. Simon Butler, Biria St. John and John McLaughlin of CBRE represented the seller, an affiliate of locally based developer UrbanSpaces, in the transaction. The team also procured the buyer, an affiliate of Barings LLC, an international investment management firm owned by insurance giant MassMutual.