This Week’s Boston Deal Sheet: City Invests In 347 Mattapan Apartments
As part of her efforts to preserve affordability across the city, Mayor Michelle Wu's administration has provided $10M for the acquisition of an apartment complex in Mattapan.
Boston invested $10M of American Rescue Plan Act funding for Related Affordable to acquire The Fairlawn Estates in Mattapan, Wu announced Monday. As part of the deal, Related will convert all 347 units from market-rate housing to permanently affordable units.
The investment ends The DSF Group's ownership and operation of the property, which the city says faced rent increases and evictions after the landlord rebranded it to SoMa at the T. Built in the 1960s, the property consists of 12 apartment buildings and a leasing office on Fairlawn Avenue, Cummings Highway and Bismarck Street.
The city funded the acquisition through a mix of public funds, private investment and loans. On top of the ARPA funding, the city used $1M from its Boston Acquisition Fund, all of which was committed by Related.
The investment ensures that half of the units will be permanently affordable for households earning no more than 60% of the area median income, and the other half for 80% AMI. Rent increases on existing tenants are restricted to 2% annually.
"Today's acquisition is a major step toward protecting our communities and preventing displacement in Mattapan," Wu said in a statement. "By securing these homes as permanently affordable, we are continuing our efforts to make Boston a home for everyone and ensuring that families can continue to live and thrive in their neighborhoods without the fear of being priced out."
SALES
City Realty Group acquired an 81K SF office and retail building in Newton for $8M, according to public records. At the time of the sale, the building was 66% leased to 20 office and retail tenants, including Buff's Pub and The Corner Café. The property also features a 140-space parking garage. The seller is Grander Capital Partners.
Newmark's Robert Griffin, Edward Maher, Matthew Pullen, James Tribble, Samantha Hallowell, William Sleeper, Joseph Alvarado and Casey Valente represented the seller and procured the buyer. Newmark's Daniel Krysiak and Grady Zink also assisted in the deal.
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Hudson Group partner Noam Ron, New York investor Evan Papanastasiou and New York-based Time Equities Inc. acquired an office building at 399 Washington St. in downtown Boston for $13M, the partnership announced Thursday. The 76K SF building was previously sold to L3 Capital and LaSalle Investment Management for $63M eight years ago.
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Healthpeak Properties acquired 100 Smith Place in Alewife for $20M, the Boston Business Journal reported. The Denver-based REIT bought the property from an entity linked to the president of Cambridge Landscape. The site is home to a two-story, 47K SF warehouse. Healthpeak has a large portfolio of Alewife properties that it has been acquiring since the late 2010s.
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King Street Properties acquired a Cambridgeport lab building for $9.5M, according to public records. The 5K SF property at 357-365 Allston St. is leased to biotech company Vaxess Technologies. The lab building was converted from office in 2022 and designed by Balance Architects.
LEASES
Swiss drugmaker Roche signed a 30K SF lease at Harvard University's Enterprise Research Campus in Allston, Banker & Tradesman reported. Harvard, with joint venture partner Tishman Speyer, is working on the first phase of the project that will include a 345-unit apartment building, a 61K SF conference center and a 250-room hotel. Construction is anticipated to finish in 2026.
FINANCING
Brookfield Properties secured an extension through late 2026 on its $505M loan tied to the Natick Mall. The loan matured at the beginning of November and was then transferred to special servicer Situs due to imminent monetary default. As part of the loan extension, the space formerly occupied by Sears was added as collateral on the loan.
PERSONNEL
Boston-based real estate investment and development firm Foxfield has announced several promotions in its Boston, Atlanta and Philadelphia offices.
Foxfield promoted Garrett Hatton to managing director of asset management, Mark Tang to managing director of development and construction, Walter Cabot to vice president of development, Rob Caderas to vice president of acquisitions, Andrew Cowan to vice president of asset management, Jackie Eamer as director and Nick Eddy as senior vice president of construction.
CONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT
Chicago-based Equity Residential filed plans with the Boston Planning Department for an office-to-residential conversion at 1 and 10 Emerson Place. The developer plans to convert approximately 20K SF of the two buildings into 33 housing units. The project would be broken up between the two buildings, with the developer converting 15K SF of offices into 26 units at 1 Emerson Place and 5K SF into seven units at 10 Emerson Place.
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The Brockton City Council approved a plan that would include 1,750 apartment units on the old Brockton Fairgrounds, the BBJ reported. Developer Copper Mill proposed redeveloping the 65-acre site into a mixed-use "innovation district." The property is owned by the Carney family, known for its greyhound racing.
CORRECTION, MARCH 11, 12:50 P.M. ET: A previous version of this story inaccurately characterized the city's position in the apartment deal. The story has been updated.
