Related Beal unveiled a plan to build a $220M all affordable/workforce housing project in North Station, among the largest developments during this boom aiming for the middle rather than the luxury slice of the market.
Related Beal is building a complex with no market rate units to diversify its Boston portfolio, have a unique product and answer Mayor Walsh’s call for more workforce housing, says Related Beal's Ted Lubitz. The 239 apartments will have rents that vary greatly but a projected average rent for a two-bedroom is approximately $2,700. The apartments will be marketed to households making between 30% and 165% of AMI. Designed by CBT Architects to be LEED Silver certifiable, it will have a 220-key hotel, 10k SF of ground-floor retail, parking for 220 cars and a public park. The developer is pursuing tax exempt bond financing through MassDevelopment and hopes to break ground in November, Ted tells us.
Development
National Development won city approval to build a $50M, 200-key AC hotel on Albany Street adjacent to the Ink Block in the hot South End’s New York Streets neighborhood. The European-style hotel will be designed by Elkus Manfredi Architects and further the transformation of this part of the Harrison-Albany Corridor. It will have a public art gallery, dining, bar, lounges, conference rooms, fitness center and indoor pool.
Artists for Humanity plans to spend $30M to triple the capacity of its existing facility on the South Boston side of Fort Point. At EpiCenter, Boston’s first LEED Platinum building that opened in 2004, it will add 57k SF designed by Germany’s Behnisch Architekten to be New England’s first energy positive commercial structure. The expansion will allow AFH to offer more classes, a new gallery and more cultural events.
Roxbury Latin School will spend $30M to build eight new athletic facilities on it West Roxbury campus. In a new building it will have an ice hockey rink, indoor soccer, football and other sports, and it will also add eight outdoor tennis courts and revamp its existing athletic fields.
Developers Dan Mangiacotti and Justin Iantosca will replace a car repair shop and other industrial buildings with a $25M three-building, 76-unit residential complex at 3200 Washington St. It will have parking for 41 cars, nearly 4,500 SF of retail and bike storage designed by RODE Architects.
***
An $18M, 40-condominium building at 1650 Commonwealth Ave in Brighton is being developed by Sixteen Fifty Commonwealth. The five-story development—with one-, two- and three-bedroom units—will also feature 2,400 SF of retail and a fitness center for residents. Construction is slated to start late fall, and be ready for occupancy by summer 2016.
***
The Boston Home will build a new $14M independent living facility on its Dorchester campus. The Harmon Apartments, named after founder Cordelia Harmon and designed by DiMella Shaffer, will be a mixed-income, four-story building with 36 apartments and 21 parking spaces. The Boston Home hopes to secure public funding to make 26 of the units available to households earning up to 60% of AMI and four of the units affordable.
***
Codman Square Neighborhood Development Corp plans to build the $14.5M Four Corners Plaza project in Dorchester: 31 apartments, hopefully all affordable with the help of some public financing, and 9,200 SF of commercial space. The developer plans to start construction of the project designed by DHK Architects in 2017.
Sales
JP Morgan Chase and Oxford Properties Group will pay Blackstone Group $1.3B for 500 Boylston St and 222 Berkeley St in the Back Bay, according to Bloomberg. The deal hasn’t closed but Oxford planted its flag in the Boston commercial property market with its purchase of 745 Atlantic Ave and 10-20 Channel Center St from Beacon Capital Partners for a combined $214.5M.
Forest Properties, a private Massachusetts-based investment group, paid $51M to TGM Associates for Beechstone Luxury Apartments, a 428-unit multifamily community in Portsmouth, NH, industry sources say. The buyer paid a price not usually seen in this market for the value-add opportunity that renovation will offer. IPA's Boston team of Richard Robinson, Jennifer Athas and Philip Lamere repped the New York-based seller.
People
As Cushman and DTZ pursue their merger, CBRE has claimed two top DTZ New England investment sales brokers. David Pergola will be an EVP and partner. Brian Doherty will be an SVP and partner.
***
Karl Walsh is the new COO and SVP at Canton-based Essex Builders. With the company since ’07, he started as a project manager and subsequently held several other posts. Karl graduated from Ulster University in Belfast, Northern Ireland, as a civil engineer in ’84 and managed construction projects in several European countries before immigrating to the US.
