Purcell Sells 'Boston Herald' Property
2007-08-11 18:01:00
Following word last week that Boston
Herald
owner Patrick J. Purcell was considering outsourcing printing of his newspaper and selling its Herald Square property, the paper today reports that Purcell is working with a developer for future use of the site.The Herald publisher sold the building and 6.6-acre site to a venture he owns in partnership with National Development, based near Boston. No sale price was given.The Herald may remain at its current site for several years. Purcell has been talking to Dow Jones & Co. about the possibility of the Wall Street Journal publisher taking over printing the Herald at its Chicopee, Mass., plant (E&P Online, July 30). In a statement, Purcell said the Herald in future must be produced "more efficiently than is possible in our current location."
Real estate recovery slow as sellers lower expectations
2007-08-09 18:02:00
The condominium market in both towns has been more volatile, both in terms of the average asking and selling price and the average number days on the market. In Acton, the average asking price for a condo has stayed fairly constant around $300,000, but the average selling price has varied widely, at times exceeding the average asking price. Condos were on the market for an average of 127 days in Acton, down from 270 in March. In Boxborough, the average asking price for a condo has risen to $191,000, up from $170,000 in March, and $58,000 above the average selling price. The average number of days on the market for a condo in Boxborough peaked at 227 in April and is now 118.
Boston Commercial Market at Mid-Year: Investors Fly High as Rents Reach Record Level
2007-08-08 05:15:00
Wall Street investors like The Blackstone Group, Broadway Partners, Normandy Real Estate Partners, and Beacon Capital Partners have been enjoying quite a ride in Boston
, as rents and vacancies have reached respective highs and lows not seen in more than six years: Average asking Class A office rents in Boston have climbed from $47 per square foot in the first quarter to $52/SF at the close of Q2, while office vacancy has dropped to 10%. More dramatically, some high-rise asking rents in the top floors have reached $90/SF, and vacancy in the Financial District and Back Bay for Class A space is about 6%. As less choice inventory is available, many companies are looking at Class B buildings downtown, but rates in that market are climbing almost as quickly, up from $35/SF last quarter to $38/SF today. Dictating these terms, Wall Street investors have swooped into Boston and other metro markets nationwide, aiming to gobble up prime portfolios, make a relatively quick killing, and then fly
Read more: Commercial
, Market
, Investors
, Rents
, Reach
, Record
Fool’s gold can’t buy prosperity: lessons from the casino debate
2007-08-05 19:01:00
Martha Bebinger asked me to comment on whether instate casinos might help the commonwealth recapture state tax revenues that, courtesy of Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun, currently go to Connecticut. I told her that Massachusetts municipal officials were extremely concerned about whether casino revenues might end up being used for purposes other than local aid. I said that we were also worried that the state’s casino-related revenues might not be as great as advertised – and I reminded her that casinos bring significant social costs to the communities that host them.
Tedeschi real estate is sold
2007-08-03 20:09:00
ROCKLAND - Tedeschi Realty Corp. has wrapped up the sale of the bulk of its commercial real estate to a Denver company in one of the biggest real estate transactions in Southeastern Massachusetts.Rockland-based Tedeschi Realty said it completed the sale of 22 properties on Wednesday, and will transfer three other properties in the next few weeks. Tedeschi Realty is selling the entire 1.9 million-square-foot portfolio to Dividend Capital Total Realty Trust for $377 million.Dividend Capital initially reported in June that it would spend $392 million for the entire 26-property portfolio that Tedeschi Realty had put on the market. But the price has since been reduced because Tedeschi Realty decided to keep one of the properties - the nearly 90,000-square-foot Middleboro Square plaza anchored by a Stop & Shop off Route 28 in Middleboro.
Local home sales above average
2007-08-01 23:55:00
While a nationwide housing slump continues to cause concern for the economy, Shrewsbury’s housing market, however, appears to be bucking some of the national and regional trends.According to the National Association of Realtors’ numbers released last week, the sale of total existing homes dropped by 3.8 percent in June.Sales declines were recorded in all areas of the country, but the most drastic drop was seen in the Northeast, which fell by 7.3 percent.According to data provided by the Massachusetts Association of Realtors, single-family home sales increased approximately 1 percent in June 2007 in Shrewsbury compared to June 2006, rising to 52 sales from 47 while the median home price rose by $46,000, from $432,000 in 2006 to $478,000 currently
Read more: Local
, above
No Christmas in July for Boston Properties
2007-07-30 22:56:00
Boston Properties
(NYSE: BXP) posted second-quarter results late Tuesday. While management spoke dreamily during the conference call of Christmas
coming early, it's hard to find shareholder gifts in the quarter's numbers.The real estate insurance trust (REIT) owns and develops office buildings in prime markets including New York, Boston, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C., and, to a lesser degree, Princeton, N.J. The Christmas allusion referred to the documented rising rents and supply constraints in key markets such as these. But Boston Properties' stocking may be hanging near the wrong fireplace.According to the press release, as of June 30, 2007, the company's portfolio consisted of 134 properties, and the overall percentage of leased space for the 127 properties in service was 94%, down slightly form the 94.2% rate at the end of December.
Read more: Boston
Freeholders to OK contract for Massachusetts Ave. upgrades
2007-07-28 18:09:00
TOMS RIVER — Widening and other improvements to Massachusetts
Avenue across the Toms River-Lakewood boundary should start late this summer, with the Ocean County Board of Freeholders set to award a $1.67 million contract
next week.The more-than-a-mile stretch between Cross Street in Lakewood and Route 70 will include new turn lanes at entrances to two adult communities to ease congestion and improve safety in an area that's seeing ongoing population growth, county officials said Wednesday as the freeholders met to review their agenda for next week.The project also will include improvements over a one-fifth mile section of Honey Locust Drive, Assistant County Engineer Frank S. Scarantino said.Lucas Brothers Inc. of Morganville won the bid, which came in under the $2.5 million originally budgeted for the project, according to county officials. They expect the improvements will be complete by the end of the year.Meanwhile, municipal officials in Plumsted will contribute $785,000 they h
Read more: upgrades
Synergy Buys 133 Portland Street in Boston from Edgewood Capital Advisors
2007-07-26 17:50:00
BOSTON-- Synergy
announced their purchase of 133 Portland Street
from Edgewood Capital Advisors, LLC. Grubb & Ellis represented the seller and procured the buyer. Karyn McFarland, Senior V.P Transaction Services, Noah Hano, V.P. Investment Services, and Anthony Biette, V.P. Investment Services, were the three Grubb and Ellis representatives involved with the transaction. The sale price was in excess of $6 million. “133 Portland St is a solid acquisition in an emerging district. This asset will complement our ownership of other assets within the Bulfinch Triangle” says Dympna Minnock, Vice President of Synergy.
Read more: Boston
Boston museum buys Forsyth property
2007-07-24 17:22:00
BOSTON (AP) - The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston
is buying a building and some open space in the Fenway neighborhood as part its expansion plan. The Forsyth Institute property
includes 1.6 acres of vacant land and a building with 107,000 square feet of space. MFA director Malcolm Rogers calls the purchase a "once-in-a-lifetime" opportunity that will dramatically transform the museum and the Fenway area for generations to come.
Separate, barely, and not equal
2007-07-22 19:05:00
The real estate slump is not hitting all Massachusetts communities -- and home sellers -- equally, as the experience of these two houses less than 20 miles apart shows. And even among a clutch of neighboring communities, the time it takes to sell a home can vary greatly. In Franklin, for example, single-family homes took on average 102 days to sell this spring, according to the Multiple Listings Service Property Information Network Inc., which provided data on home sales between March 1 and June 30. In Foxborough, the average was 156 days. And in two other neighboring communities, Medway and Norfolk, the average days- on-market for single-family homes were 164 days and 158 days, respectively.
Stakes in Boston two storied State Street towers for sale
2007-07-20 19:17:00
The owner of half interests in Exchange Place, also known as 53 State
St., and 75 State St., the gold-gilded granite building just down the street, is putting its positions up for sale in the current hot commercial real estate market, when sky-high prices don't seem to be getting in the way of even higher ones. Cushman & Wakefield of Massachusetts Inc., which is marketing the buildings, confirmed the offering but would not comment further.
Read more: Boston
, Street
, Stakes
Boston explores convention center expansion
2007-07-18 21:05:00
The Massachusetts Convention Center Authority (MCCA) has issued a request for proposal to further develop the 62-acre plot of land that's currently home to the Boston
Convention and Exhibition Center (BCEC). The MCCA is asking firms to focus on when and how the BCEC could be expanded. The 22-acres to be developed are currently a parking lot.“We always anticipated that there would be a phase two of the BCEC project when the building proved to be as successful as we hoped,” says Gloria Cordes Larson, Chairman of the MCCA board. “The building has exceeded our expectations, and it's the right time to explore what we should do with the undeveloped portion of the property. A master plan is the best way to start the dialogue.”
Boston Properties Signs 400,000 SF Lease
2007-07-16 19:20:00
Boston Properties
, Inc. , a real estate investment trust, and Ropes & Gray, announced today that they have executed a lease for Ropes & Gray to relocate its Boston office to the Prudential Tower. The firm will occupy more than 400,000 square feet of office space in the top floors of the 52-story, 1.2 million square foot office building beginning in the fall of 2010.
Read more: Boston
Several bids offered for purchase of 30 Winter St.
2007-07-15 01:58:00
Several bids to purchase 30 Winter St., a 12-floor, 87,000-square-foot office building near Downtown Crossing, were received this week, Lisa M. Campoli, executive vice president of the real estate firm Meredith & Grew, said. Meredith & Grew is representing the joint owners, Great Point Investors LLC and the Cresset Group, both of Boston.
Business group lobbies for property tax relief
2007-07-12 17:26:00
A business watchdog group issued a report today concluding that the state should honor an agreement that would limit how much Massachusetts communities can collect in future taxes from business properties. The report, from the Boston Municipal Research Bureau, focused on an agreement that was part of a 2004 tax measure and that sought to reach a compromise at a time when residential property
values in Massachusetts were rising far faster than commercial property values.
Read more: Business
, relief
Massachusetts residential real estate has become a game of survival
2007-07-10 17:38:00
"Agents who have gotten into the business (recently) have never seen anything like this market now," Rosseland said, noting there's been a 30 to 40 percent decrease in the number of agents versus two years ago in some places. Particularly hard hit, according to Rosseland, are newer agents. Peter Certo, manager at Keller Williams Realty in Worcester, said the median wage for agents is being held back by agents who fail to adapt to the current residential
market or who aren't being pushed to produce. Instead, some of those agents find themselves competing with, or ignored by, independent brokers who are selling just to keep the office doors open, Certo said.
Read more: Massachusetts
, survival
Neighbor edges out bidders for Sun property
2007-07-08 19:41:00
Sun, the second-largest employer in town, will continue to occupy 450,000 square feet of space in some of the buildings on the campus as a long-term tenant. That leaves more than 300,000 square feet open to rent immediately, with Nordblom planning to develop up to 570,000 square feet of additional space on the campus in the coming years.
Read more: property
, Neighbor
, edges
Linear Retail pays $22m for plaza in Wellesley
2007-07-07 15:19:00
Linear Retail
Properties LLC of Burlington this week purchased Central Plaza, a 47,000-square-foot shopping center on Central Street in Wellesley Center, according to Jonathan Aron, vice president in the investment group of NAI Hunneman, which represented the buyer. The property, which was owned by Wellesley Realty Trust, had not been marketed and was sold in a private transaction for $22 million. The Gap and six other shops are tenants, and Citibank plans to take space in the two-story building, which is accompanied by a surface parking lot.
Read more: Linear
, plaza
Massachusetts housing market may be in the doldrums
2007-07-05 04:10:00
Still, both April and May saw strong sales and pricing, though much more modestly, according to numbers obtained by the Herald.In April, the average downtown condo sold for $639,856, up 20 percent over the year prior, according to preliminary figures. In May, it sold for $615,000, up 2 percent.In all, condo sales volume for April, May and June was up by about 2.3 percent, to 1,101 condos, compared to the same period last year.
Read more: Massachusetts
Boston may annex land in Dedham for housing
2007-07-02 17:10:00
In a deal that would make Theo Epstein proud, Dedham officials and Mayor Thomas M. Menino are working on an elaborate plan that, if consummated, would mark the first time in nearly a century that Boston
expands its geographic boundaries.
O’Brien hopes to expand The Staubach Co.’s operations in Boston
2007-07-01 21:19:00
Dallas Cowboys legend Roger Staubach is making the biggest hand-off of his post-football career today, passing day-to-day control of his $450 million Staubach Co. to Belmont native Greg O’Brien.
Read more: Boston
Boutique Boston Office Sale Tops $330 Per SF
2007-06-28 19:52:00
The Carlyle Group has just closed on the $37 million sale of the Boston
office building at 40 Court Street to Brickman Associates. Carlyle had owned the 110,000-square-foot property since 2000, when it was acquired for $21 million.
Read more: Boutique
Carlyle Group sells Boston office building for $37M
2007-06-27 01:59:00
The building, which totals 110,005 square feet, is 84 percent leased, according to CB Richard Ellis/New England, whose capital markets team represented D.C.-based private equity firm Carlyle
Group
in the transaction.
Read more: Boston
, office
Skyrocketing foreclosures a tragedy that is still unfolding
2007-06-24 18:49:00
A small cluster of men stood in the rain at 2 p.m. Friday outside 273 Cambridge St., a beige three-decker with a blue minivan parked in the driveway. Without walking through the three-family wood frame building, Michael G. Roy of Commonwealth Auction Associates opened the bidding. A couple of minutes later, the property, which sold for $304,122 in March 2005, was awarded to the bank that foreclosed on it. There was one other bidder. The auction price was not disclosed.
Tufts Health Plan pays $85.5m for Watertown headquarters
2007-08-15 19:36:00
The Art Deco structure was built in 1931 as a service center for Western Electric.Tufts has leased space in it since 1998, and this year said it was consolidating its offices and moving 475 employees from Waltham to Watertown. "Buying this building signals our long-term commitment to the marketplace," said James Roosevelt Jr., chief executive of Tufts Health
Plan, in a statement. "This purchase will provide us with millions of dollars of savings over the next several years, which will enable us to further lower administrative costs."
Read more: headquarters
Mortgage game fallout
2007-08-13 19:03:00
Massachusetts businesses know the impact of a credit crunch. During the recession of the 1990s, when New England banks collapsed under the weight of bad real estate loans, even well-established businesses couldn't find credit to expand -- or just survive. The credit crunch deepened that recession, the state's worst in the post-World War II period. Mortgage
companies now have less concern for the borrowers' ability to make monthly payments, since they are selling the mortgage anyway. The incentive for them is to make as many mortgages as they can. That incentive gave birth to subprime mortgages, interest-only mortgages, adjustable rate mortgages and other products that house-hungry but cash-poor families have jumped on. Rising home prices, cashed out in the form of home equity loans, helped the economy ride out the bursting of the tech bubble in the first part of this decade. But when real estate inflation slowed and interest rates rose, the results were predictable. Foreclosures and
A real estate agency from Brockton offers much more
2007-08-19 20:26:00
Many years ago Manny Goncalves decided he wanted to start a business in Brockton that would serve the city's growing Cape Verdean population. So, in 1987, he opened Goncalves Real Estate, which he now runs with his wife and daughter. The storefront business in Brockton's Campello section is actually much more than a real estate agency
. Goncalves offers one-stop shopping for the Cape Verdean community that includes help with immigration issues, tax preparation, and health, life, and auto insurance, as well as real estate."I saw a need to assist our people," Goncalves, 63, said of his small company. "People come to this country for a better life to buy a house, to buy a car. I said we should have an agency to help our people."
Dodgers owner sells Brookline estate
2007-08-17 17:45:00
If you thought the real estate tumble bruised your home's resale value, it can't quite compare to the hurting Los Angeles Dodgers
owner Frank McCourt took on his Brookline estate. The developer and construction tycoon first listed the 18,000 square foot three-story, eight-bedroom, seven-bathroom Brookline mansion for $22 million. The house sits on nearly three acres surrounded by multimillion-dollar homes, but most $10 million or more below the most recent asking price of $15.75 million.
Home prices in Massachusetts fell for the 15th straight month
2007-08-22 13:30:00
The median price for a single-family home has dropped 4.6 percent, to $323,000, since July 2006, Warren Group, a Boston real estate and publishing firm, said yesterday. July's sales volume increased 1.5 percent from a year ago, but analysts said it was a short-term rise brought on by a surge of parents buying homes prior to the new school year in September. The median price for a condominium rose less than 1 percent, to $280,000,"People who are ready, willing, and able to buy a house can't do it because they can't find a mortgage," said Timothy Warren Jr., Warren Group's chief executive. "That's got to be bad."
Read more: Massachusetts
|
Recommend Site To A Friend
