Tech Company Expands Downtown Office Lease To 125K SF: The Boston Deal Sheet

In one of the largest leases last quarter, tech company Datadog renewed and expanded its lease in Boston's central business district. 

Datadog is growing its footprint to 125K SF at Oxford Properties' 225 Franklin St., according to Savills' Q3 office report. The company previously occupied 40K SF when it moved there in March 2018.

"We’re proud to expand our partnership with Datadog, who have been a valued customer in our Boston portfolio since 2017," Matthew Polhemus, vice president of leasing at Oxford Properties, said in a statement to Bisnow.

"This expansion speaks to both their success and the strength of our long-standing relationship," he added. "Our Oxford team remains deeply committed to investing in and creating workplace environments where innovative companies like Datadog can thrive."

The cloud solutions company's global headquarters is in New York City, and it has offices across the U.S. and 20 countries. The firm has been growing rapidly through several high-profile tech acquisitions, including a $1B deal to buy Israeli-founded Upwind.

The deal is another downtown leasing win for Oxford Properties, which landed a 250K SF renewal and expansion with tech company Klaviyo at 125 Summer St. in April.

SALES

Jonathan Rose Cos. and The Schochet Cos. acquired the 430-unit Plumley Village affordable housing community in Worcester for $100M, according to a press release. The joint venture bought the property at 16 Laurel St. from The Community Builders. The seller owned the site for 35 years. This is the sixth acquisition under the Rose Affordable Housing Preservation Fund VI, and it expands Jonathan Rose Cos.' local portfolio to more than 1,000 units. 

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The Healey-Driscoll administration closed on the sale of a 10-acre parcel on the former Boston State Hospital campus that is planned to be redeveloped into a 287-unit affordable housing project, according to a press release. Lena New Boston II and 2Life Development Inc. acquired the site. The project is the latest phase of the Olmsted Village redevelopment that has been transforming the 175-acre campus over the last 30 years. The sale is also part of a state initiative to fast-track housing production on state-owned land.

LEASES

The Davis Cos. executed more than 72K SF in leases at its 201 Broadway St. office building in Kendall Square. The 119K SF building is now more than 85% leased to tenants including Insurify, Mitsubishi Electric US, Applied Materials and Data4Cure. Hunneman's Robert Fitzgerald, Patrick Grady, Jim Boudrot, Peter Evans, Steve James and Henry Birmingham represented Davis as the listing agent for the property.

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Cogent Biosciences Inc. signed a 31K SF lease at BXP's 180 CityPoint office and life sciences building in Waltham. The space will become the biotech company's new headquarters. It is relocating from Hobbs Brook Real Estate's 275 Wyman St. in Waltham. Cushman & Wakefield’s Michael O’Leary, Kevin McNamara, Thomas Ashe and Ross Gaudet represented the tenant. BXP's Pat Mulvihill and Casey Torto represented the owner of the 329K SF building.

FINANCING

Beacon Capital Partners secured a $149.2M refinancing loan for its 27 Drydock Ave. office building in the Seaport, Commercial Property Executive reported. The 286K SF building is home to tenants including Arcaea, Tomopath, MedChem Imaging and Ginkgo Bioworks. The refinancing was issued by Morgan Stanley Bank. Beacon Capital acquired the eight-story property in 2020 for roughly $261M.

PERSONNEL

MassDevelopment hired Kathy McGilvray as the agency's head of finance programs. In the new role, McGilvray will oversee the agency's finance programs division, which is responsible for investment banking, lending, growth capital and green financing. McGilvray previously served as CEO of Opportunity Communities, an organization that works to strengthen the capacity of community development corporations.

CONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT

Joseph Vozzella, the owner of a property at 3841 Washington St. in Jamaica Plain, filed plans to turn it into 165 housing units. The project would transform a 0.8-acre site with a surface parking lot and a two-story mixed-use building into a 144K SF residential property with roughly 5K SF of ground-floor commercial space. The property is in a light industrial district and will need approval from the Zoning Board of Appeals.