This Week's Boston Deal Sheet
Condo time has arrived for Samuels & Associates. It's been developing $2.3B of mixed-use projects in the Fenway since early this millennium. On Thursday, it holds a groundbreaking for its first Fenway ownership units in the $300M luxury Pierce Boston, principal Leslie Cohen tells Bisnow.
Designed by Miami-based Arquitectonica, Samuels’ latest (in partnership with Landsea and in association with Weiner Ventures) at 188 Brookline Ave will have 109 condos, 240 apartments and 20k SF of retail. Two-bedroom condos will reach 2,329 SF, and two-bedroom rentals 1,565 SF. Amenities include: a doorman, 24/7 concierge service, a roof deck and pool on the 30th floor, and an 18th-floor yoga studio.
Construction & Development
A unit of NY-based real estate investment management company Westbrook Partners plans to build a 225-room limited-service hotel at 73-79 Essex St in Chinatown. The 17-story building at the intersection of Essex and Oxford streets is a quick walk to the Chinatown Orange Line T-stop, the Ritz-Carlton Boston Common and the Hyatt Regency.
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Japanese clothing retailer Uniqlo opened its first Boston store—a two-level, 12k SF space in Faneuil Hall. The New York-based real estate investment firm Ashkenazy Acquisition Corp bought the ground lease to Faneuil Hall in 2011 and has more upgrades planned. Uniqlo, which has 42 stores in the US and 1,600 stores worldwide is a unit of the Japanese retail holding company Fast Retailing Co.
Oaktree FX completed construction on its $32M Brookside Square multifamily and retail project in West Concord: 74 luxury apartments and 36k SF of Class-A commercial and office space within walking distance of the commuter rail station. The developer—a partnership between Oaktree Development and FX Investments’ Patrick Cleary (fourth from left with former site owner Boynton Properties' Robert Boynton, Oaktree's Gwen Noyes and Art Klipfel, FX Investments' Patrick Cleary and State Sen. Michael Barrett) used Oaktree’s Green Staxx construction system. One- and two-bedroom units will rent from $1,755 to $3,265/month. The development team included The Architectural Team and Tocci Building Cos.
Sales
Bentall Kennedy is negotiating with Berkeley Investments to pay about $250M for its Fort Point portfolio of office buildings and parking garages. The Capital Markets team—formerly with Cushman & Wakefield and now with Newmark—Rob Griffin, Ed Maher and Matt Pullen repped the seller.
Artemis Real Estate Partners has agreed to pay HN Gorin for a major share of 101 Merrimac St in the North End. Eastdil Secured repped Gorin in the sale of the 10-story, 159k SF office building.
Leasing
Campanelli has leased space in the Strawberry Hill Corporate Center at 289 Great Rd in Acton to: NQA, 12k SF in a relo from Acton Center; Parents Estate Planning law firm (also an intown relo) will take 2,372 SF; and Minuteman Wealth Management signed up for 1,773 SF. Avison Young’s Jack Kerrigan, Bill Sullivan and Anne Flanagan repped the landlord with Campanelli’s leasing manager Danielle Simbliaris.
Assignments
The City of Boston hired Finegold Alexander Architects to plan and design the redevelopment of 585 Commercial St for the Eliot Innovation School serving grades 2 through 4 in the North End near the waterfront. Built in 1962, the building has served as a home for the US FDA, space for Roche-Bobois, and HQ for the Romney presidential campaign. Its new design will include: classrooms for 800 to 1,000 students, a multi-purpose/cafeteria space, and a media center.
Local
Texas computer maker Dell’s record $67B bid to buy Hopkinton-based EMC Corp raises questions about how the deal—if it closes—will affect the commercial property market. EMC is a major user and owner of suburban properties. The cloud computing and data storage giant occupies 3.8M SF of office space in Hopkinton, Hudson, Marlborough, Westborough, Southborough and Northborough.
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Mayor Walsh has launched a process to gather public input for Boston's first citywide master plan in 50 years. Some neighborhoods, like the major commercial real estate submarket of the Back Bay, have never had a specific zoning code despite copious amounts of development. Industry pros hope the new plan will bring greater certainty, clarity and comity into the development process. To ensure community input, the city is launching the Textizen mobile platform that will facilitate public feedback via text.
People
In the recent barrage of broker reshuffling, veteran rep Joe Fallon will become the new Cushman & Wakefield chief in Boston, replacing nationally prominent investment sales broker Rob Griffin, who recently jumped over to Newmark Grubb Knight Frank with scores of C&W colleagues. Joe led the DTZ and Cassidy Turley offices in Boston and also was a founder of FHO Partners. At Cushman, Joe replaces Luis Alvarado, who had been named market leader when DTZ completed its $2.04B acquisition of Cushman & Wakefield last month.
Honors
The Charlesview Residences and The Town Homes at Brighton Mills in Allston-Brighton are recipients of the 2015 Urban Land Institute’s Terwilliger Center for Housing Jack Kemp Excellence in Affordable and Workforce Housing Award. The award honors developments that ensure affordable housing for people of various incomes. Through a unique land swap with Harvard that took several years to negotiate, TCB and partner Charlesview Inc built the $143M Charlesview Residences for 240 families. It has pedestrian trails, a 10k SF community center, and 15k SF of retail space for a Spanish-immersion preschool and two restaurants.
