This Week's Boston Deal Sheet: One Congress Owners Score $650M Refinancing Loan
In a rare move these days, a fully occupied office tower in Boston secured a refinancing loan.
Carr Properties and National Real Estate Advisors refinanced $650M for their 1.1M SF One Congress office building, according to a press release. The single-asset, single-borrower loan was arranged by Wells Fargo and Bank of America.
JLL's Riaz Cassum, Coleman Benedict, Jim Meisel, Mike Shepard and Hugh Doherty represented the borrowers.
“Securing SASB financing for assets, particularly office in the current environment, can be challenging,” Cassum said in a release. “SASB lenders typically look for top quality assets with reputable borrowers, both of which One Congress had.”
The 600-foot-tall tower reached 100% preleased a year before its completion in 2023, landing notable deals including State Street Corp.'s 510K SF lease and InterSystem's 420K SF lease.
The office building is a rarity in the market, seeing strong leasing coming out of the pandemic and a bump in assessed value from $450M to $487.4M, the only large office building in the city to see a raise.
SALES
Casco Real Estate Partners and Berkeley Partners sold an 85K SF industrial property at 295 Union St. to Stockbridge for $26M. The property is home to tenants include Tesla, Home Depot and Goodyear. JLL's Michael Restivo, David Coffman and Tommy Hovey represented the seller.
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Crystal Creek Capital Real Estate Advisors acquired the Courtyard Boston Copley Square hotel in Back Bay for $50M, according to public records. The 81-room hotel was built in 1891 and last acquired by an entity linked to Henryk Ilan Sebba of Boulder, Colorado, the Boston Business Journal reported.
LEASES
Irish fashion retailer Primark signed a 10K SF lease at Synergy's 101 Arch St., expanding its U.S. headquarters. The expansion is steps from its downtown Boston retail location. The brand has 450 stores across Europe and the United States, with the Boston location being its first in the country. CBRE's Jonathan Freni represented Primark in the deal. Synergy acquired the 400K SF office building in March 2024 for $78M.
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The Davis Cos. landed a full-building, 123K SF lease with Organogenesis Holdings at its 100 Technology Way building in Smithfield, Rhode Island. Davis acquired the property in 2023 for $18.5M. The property also has 15.5 acres of vacant space approved for another 175K SF biomanufacturing building.
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Boston Fusion signed a 10K SF lease at 1 Hartwell Place in Lexington. The research and product development firm will join other research and lab tenants Boston BioskillsLab and Signiat at the 122K SF lab development. R.W. Holmes' Mike Ogasapian and David Gilkie represented the tenant and Lincoln Property Co.'s Tim Latham, James Tambone and Chris Deveaux represented landlord North River Co.
FINANCING
The city of Boston awarded $750K in Equitable Emissions Investment Fund grants for green retrofits to affordable housing. The awardees are the Codman Square Neighborhood Development Corp., the Dorchester Bay Economic Development Corp. and the Fenway Community Development Corp.
CONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT
Federal Realty secured approval for an eight-story, 318-unit apartment building in the middle of the Assembly Row master-planned area in Somerville. However, the building is on hold due to economic uncertainty, the BBJ reported. The site currently home to a parking lot is adjacent to sneaker brand Puma's offices.
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The Boston Planning Department approved three development projects representing 108K SF including 155 residential units. Two of the projects approved are office-to-residential conversions: 123 N. Washington St. in the North End and 16-18 Hawley St. in downtown Boston. The other project is the historic preservation of a self-storage facility at 120-134 Hampden St. in the Newmarket Innovation District.
