This Week's Boston Deal Sheet
Mayor Michelle Wu's administration announced Monday it plans to launch an office-to-residential conversion pilot program in a new effort to revitalize the city's underutilized commercial buildings.
To incentivize office owners to launch conversions, the city plans to reduce property tax rates for the immediate conversion of offices to residential buildings. A reduction of up to 75% of the standard tax rate could be provided for residential projects for up to 29 years, according to a press release.
“We must take every possible action to create more housing and more affordability so that Boston’s growth meets the needs of current and future residents,” Wu said in the release. “This program will help us take advantage of the opportunity we have to rethink Downtown as a space where people from all over come together to collaborate, create, live, and play.”
The program will accept applications from this fall through June 2024. All applicants must comply with the city's proposed Inclusionary Zoning and new stretch code standards.
These conversion projects could also be supported by the ombudsperson's office at the Boston Planning & Development Agency, which aims to streamline the approval process from other city departments. To receive the tax breaks, conversion projects will need to begin construction by October 2025.
SALES
Spirit Realty Capital acquired the Alsen Mapes Industrial Park in Dorchester for $26.8M. The Dallas-based real estate investment trust purchased multiple parcels, including 40-44 Strutevant St. and 50 Park St. The REIT acquired the properties from Keystone Capital Management.
LEASES
Consulting firm Deloitte signed a 138K SF lease at MP Boston's 619-foot-tall Winthrop Center. The firm is relocating from its 135K SF office at 200 Berkeley St. and plans to move into the new space in fall 2024. The lease is the fourth MP has landed at the building, which it said will be 60% occupied once other leases are finalized in the summer.
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The Bullfinch Cos. fully leased its 53K SF retail building at 435 Westgate Drive to Urban Air Adventure Park. The building is in Brockton and stands on 4 acres roughly 22 miles from Boston. The adventure park is set to open in the spring of 2024. The location was the home to a Dick's Sporting Goods, which moved next door to the Westgate Mall in August 2020, Enterprise News reported.
FINANCING
MassHousing and the Healey-Driscoll administration awarded a total of $8.1M in Neighborhood Stabilization Program grants to fund the redevelopment and rehabilitation of 56 affordable housing units, including 24 new homeownership projects. The grants were awarded to 11 community-based organizations for projects in Boston, Brookline, Easton, Fitchburg, Greenfield, Holyoke, Lynn, Montague, Pittsfield and Springfield.
MassHousing launched the grant program in 2022 and has awarded over $12.7M in funding. This has resulted in the construction or rehabilitation of 87 homes, including 47 homeownership units.
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MassDevelopment issued an $18M tax-exempt bond for the New England Historic Genealogical Society's Newbury Street facility expansion. The organization will redevelop and expand the vacant building at 97 Newbury St. into a new Visitor Complex and Discovery Center. The expansion will also include a connection to the existing building at 99-101 Newbury St.
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The Procopio Cos. closed on an equity raise for its 290-unit The Beck project in Haverhill. Boston Andes Capital helped with the equity raise. The firm also closed on a loan with Needham Bank and received a $1.9M MassWorks grant to provide road and traffic signal improvements. Construction has begun and is planned to complete in spring 2025.
CONSTRUCTION & DEVELOPMENT
Anchor Line Partners and Northwood Investors celebrated the topping off of their 245 Fifth Ave. development in Waltham. The six-story, 262K SF speculative lab project will add to Anchor Line's Waltham portfolio, which also includes its six-building CityPoint Campus and an 8K SF Craft Food Hall Project at 200 Fifth Ave.
In 2015, the firm purchased three office buildings at 100, 200 and 300 Fifth Ave. for $101M from DivcoWest Properties, the Boston Business Journal reported. Two years later, the firm acquired the other three buildings at Totten Pond Road for $51.5M from TA Realty, NEREJ reported.
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Jefferson Apartment Group welcomed its first residents at a 168-unit apartment building in Woburn, a partnership with SpringHarbor Financial Group. The apartment complex includes 42 units of affordable housing reserved for households earning up to 80% of the area median income. The apartment building is about 3 miles from the Anderson Regional Transit Center, which can provide commuter rail access to workers.
