MALDEN, MASS. — A partnership between regional developer Quaker Lane Capital and Turnbridge Equities will develop a 160,000-square-foot building that can support traditional office or life sciences users in Malden, a northern suburb of Boston. Global architecture firm Gensler is designing the nine-story facility, which will be located within an Opportunity Zone. Construction is expected to begin in the first half of 2022 and to be complete some time in 2023.
JAMAICA PLAIN, MASS. — Cornerstone Realty Capital has arranged a $12.2 million loan for the refinancing of a five-story apartment building in the Egleston Square neighborhood of Jamaica Plain near Boston. Completed in 2020, the property houses 39 apartment units and retail space on the ground floor. Units range in size from 515 to 1,320 square feet. Cornerstone arranged a fixed-rate loan with 12 months of interest-only payments followed by a 30-year amortization schedule. The borrower and direct lender were not disclosed.
CHELSEA, MASS. — Burgess Properties LLC has brokered the sales of two industrial buildings located in the northeastern Boston suburb of Chelsea for a combined $17.5 million. The first property at 3-7 Griffin Way spans 33,515 square feet and features a clear height of 20 feet. Oliver Street Capital purchased that asset for $10 million. The second building at 25 Griffin Way totals 25,000 square feet and features a clear height of 27 feet. That property sold to an undisclosed, Boston-based investor for $7.5 million. Steve Nohrden of Burgess Properties brokered the deals. The sellers in both transactions requested anonymity.
CAMBRIDGE, MASS. — A partnership between California-based Township Capital LLC and locally based developer Cabot, Cabot & Forbes (CC&F) has acquired a 66,964-square-foot industrial building in Cambridge. The property is situated in the Alewife area, adjacent to CC&F’s mixed-use campus that is in development and will include 575,000 square feet of lab space, 250 multifamily units and 6,000 square feet of retail space. The seller was not disclosed.
BOSTON — Maryland-based Phillips Realty Capital has arranged two loans totaling $96.2 million for the refinancing and renovation of a pair of multifamily assets totaling 279 units in Boston. In the first transaction, Voya Commercial Mortgage LLC provided funds for Atrium on the Commonwealth, a 187-unit community near Boston University that was originally built in the 1920s as an assembly plant and dealership for Packard Motors. In the second deal, Hingham Institution for Savings provided financing for the 92-unit Longfellow Apartments near Harvard University in Cambridge. That property was originally built in 1917 and features studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom floor plans. Adam Bieber of Phillips Realty Capital led the debt placement efforts in conjunction with Harmon Handorf, Emily Beeler and Bill Wrench. The borrower was full-service real estate firm The Hamilton Co.
CAMBRIDGE, MASS. — Locally based mortgage banking firm Fantini & Gorga has placed $5.2 million in permanent financing for a 31-unit multifamily building located at 1558 Massachusetts Ave. in the Harvard Square area of Cambridge. The five-story building was originally constructed in the 1920s and sits directly across the street from Harvard Law School. Eastern Mortgage Capital provided the loan, which was structured with a 35-year term and a fixed interest rate. The borrower was not disclosed.
BOURNE, MASS. — National self-storage developer True Storage has completed a 1,033-unit facility that will be operated under the CubeSmart brand in Bourne, located at the nexus of Cape Cod and mainland Massachusetts. The facility occupies the site of a former Grand Union supermarket and spans 111,000 square feet. The majority of the units are located indoors and feature climate-controlled space, multiple loading bays and elevator access to the second floor. The remaining units are located outside and offer drive-up access.
BOSTON — Nauset Construction has broken ground on 1180 Boylston Street, a 50-unit multifamily project located at the site of a former gas station in the Brookline area of Boston. Designed by CBT Architects and developed by Chestnut Hill Investments LLC, the six-story building will also house 6,500 square feet of retail space. The property will feature a unit mix of 15 one-bedrooms, 33 two-bedrooms and two three-bedrooms. All units in the building are age-restricted; one resident in each unit must be 55 years or older. In addition, 10 units are reserved for households earning 50 percent or less of the area median income.
CAMBRIDGE, MASS. — Outdoor apparel and equipment retailer REI will open an 8,000-square-foot store at Cambridge Crossing, a 43-acre mixed-use development located at the junction of Boston, Cambridge and Somerville. The opening of the store, which is scheduled for this fall, represents the launch of the retailer’s new small-format prototype and will be located within a newly constructed office and retail building. DivcoWest is the master developer of Cambridge Crossing.
NORTON, MASS. — CBRE has brokered the sale of a 209,643-square-foot industrial facility in Norton, located near the Massachusetts-Rhode Island border. Built in 1986, the property was fully leased to U.S. Cabinet Depot at the time of sale. Building features include a clear height of 28 feet, 20 docks and an ESFR sprinkler system. Scott Dragos, Chris Skeffington, Doug Jacoby, Roy Sandeman, Tim Mulhall, Tony Hayes and Daniel Hines of CBRE represented the seller, Paradigm Capital Advisors, in the off-market transaction. Denver-based Black Creek Group acquired the asset for an undisclosed price.