March
2011
Church Conversions : 3 GREAT Opportunities
by Evan, Boston 
Holy Trinity Church
136 & 140R Shawmut Avenue
Boston, MA : SOUTH END
Here is a beautiful South End church for sale, perfect project for an investor looking to make an interesting residential conversion. It was built in 1877 with a site area of square footage of 17,361, a gross building area of 26,900 square feet and a frontage of 40 feet. OFFERS DUE BY APRIL 15th – to set up an appointment or for floor-plans & more pictures please contact Epapa27@yahoo.com.
728 – 740 Tremont Street
Boston, MA : SOUTH END
Here is another gorgeous South End Church that would be a great project for an interested investor. Again, it is situated in a wonderful area of the South End and is offering a lot of space, as it sits on approximately 20,248 sf parcel of land with a building size of 16,784 sf. FOR SHOWINGS AND COMPLETE INFO AND ESTIMATED EXPENSES PLEASE CONTACT Epapa27@yahoo.com
Church of Scientology
448 Beacon Street
Boston, MA : BACK BAY
AMAZING DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITY. This is a grand mansion in the Back Bay ideal for condominium conversion. It is situated on the water side of Beacon St and it boasts 25,000 square feet of land with 5 floors of architectural detail, 7 fireplaces, original fixtures and ornate woodwork. This property lets in brilliant sun light from 70+ windows with 3 exposures on the corner of Beacon and Hereford. Great ceiling height, city views and charles river views. It gets even better, it comes with 14 OUTDOOR PARKING SPACES! Many different development opportunities. FOR APPOINTMENTS PLEASE CONTACT Epapa27@yahoo.com.
February
2011
New Proposal for East Fenway Parking Garage
by Evan, Boston
Developer Catamount Westland LLC has proposed to turn the Symphony Garage located at 41 Westland Ave in Boston’s East Fenway neighborhood into a luxury condominium complex. It is currently home to a 6 story 300 parking facility with hopes that it can become a seven story, 67,000 sqare foot building with 48 residential condominium units with 31 parking spaces. Many developers have had their eyes on the Fenway area, this is one of many potential developments that have been brought forward to the BRA.
January
2011
St. Joseph’s High School of Lowell was shut down back in 1992. Yesterday, almost 20 years after its closing, they held a ribbon cutting ceremony in celebration of a new affordable housing project at 760 Merrimack Street in Lowell’s Acre neighborhood. The Acre High School Apartments were developed by a group by the name of Coalition for a Better Acre with a $4M low-income housing tax credit equity investment from the Massachusetts Housing Investment Corporation with TD Bank as the sole investor. This $7.5M project, which is now home to 22 affordable housing units also received financing from Enterprise Bank, the state Department of Housing and Community Development, the city of Lowell and from sponsor loans. For more information please contact Epapa27@yahoo.com.
January
2011
Equity Residential, out of Chicago wants to replace the Garden Garage across from the TD Garden with 500 new apartments by fall 2015. The garage is located in the West End at 35 Lomasney Way, right behind the TD Banknorth Garden. This development would be two towers, one being a 21-story with 200 units and another, a 28-story tower with 300 units. An 850 space parking structure would be built underground. This is not Equity Residential’s first rodeo in this area, as they’re the minds behind the very popular West End Apartments, totalling ownership almost 1,500 apartments in the West End. I think its a great project, as that area on Lomasney Way isn’t very developed. It would be a good pedestrian traffic connecter through the North End, West End, Bulfinch Triangle and Science Museum area. Only thing that worries me, is that it is already a mess in that area when there is an event at The Garden, this would add a whole lot more traffic in that neighborhood. For more information on this development contact Epapa27@yahoo.com
December
2010
319 A Street Gets Green Light
by Evan, Boston
Construction will start next year at 319 A Street. A 21 story, $150M apartment complex which will help progress Mayor Menino’s goal of creating an “Innovation District” in that area. He visions a lot of young professionals, new companies, upscale restaurants, retailers and modern homes in this area. I like where his head is at on this one, The Seaport needs to keep growing, there is a lot of great development opportunity there. This project will replace a 5-story warehouse and will be replaced with 2 buildings along Melcher and A Streets. The larger of the two buildings will be on A Street, which will house 184 apartments and four levels of parking, 19 of the units will be below market rates. The smaller building will be located at 63 Melcher Street which will offer 27 apartments with shared lounges and other common spaces which will help create a community feel amongst the residents. Archon Group is behind this development, they’ve been trying to win the city’s approval for a while and they’ve had to cut the height of the building by 25%, add live-work apartments and include units with shared living areas to do so. The company will also be paying $2M to support a city initiative to build more public parks in the area. I’m excited for the Innovation District, we’ll keep you posted on the progress of this project, but construction is being aimed to start by summer ’11.
December
2010
Last Wednesday I had the opportunity to meet with the construction team at Atlantic Wharf. The new mixed use development will include a 31-story, 750,000 Class A office tower, 30,000 square feet of retail and public spaces, 70 to 80 residential units, a 650 car parking garage, and a waterfront plaza. What is unique about this building is that it is a mix of old and new, as the building needed to meet historical zoning ordinances. The glass office tower is surrounded by original brick buildings on Atlantic and Congress St, which will serve as additional office space and luxury rental apartments. Just next door is the new Intercontinental Hotel with top of the line amenities available to Atlantic Wharf employees and residents. The project is finishing up and should be completed by February 2011. Wellington Management signed a 20 year lease for the top floors of the tower, and the tenant improvements for this space are completely customized to their specific needs. The Atlantic Wharf development is unique because it is constructed in such a way that each floor is completely open and unobstructed. The building was built with a concrete core rather than with steel columns on the perimeter, so the space seems wide open and airy. I am curious to see what other tenants will make Atlantic Wharf their new home. Rumor has it that Abe and Louis will take the retail space on the water side of the building. With private docks in the rear of the building, dinner guests have the option to valet by car or by boat. I was extremely impressed with Boston Property’s construction team and their vision for this state of the art development.
December
2010
New Suffolk University Building!
by Evan, Boston
The preliminary demolition has begun, as Suffolk University continues its growth throughout their Beacon Hill / Boston Common campus. The $68M building located at 20 Somerset Street will be home to the university’s New England School of Art and Design as well as other classroom space. 10 Somerset is currently one of Suffolk’s dorms, which will make a very convenient location for this building. They have had some trouble securing a contractor, but assuming one is in place soon, the construction will begin sometime in March or April. This project was approved in January of ’09 and once complete it will remove 200 seats from classrooms in the Temple Street locations (Fenton and Archer) and bring them to 20 Somerset. They are pushing to stay on schedule for this 108,000 square foot development as State Rep Marty Walz says “It’s important to move forward so that we no longer have a vacant building in a state of decay on that block.” The revitalization of this building will bring a new life to Somerset Street and Suffolk University.
November
2010
Boston Developer Steve Samuels is in negotiations to purchase the Landmark Center located in Fenway. The center is home to Blue Cross Blue Shield and retail giants, Best Buy and Bed Bath and Beyond. Rumor has it that Samuels is in negotiations with the Abbey Group to purchase the 1.5M sqft. building for $530M. This purchase would tighten Samuels’ grip on this district, as he has developed other successful projects in the area such as Fenway Trilogy and 1330 Boylston St. Samuels is one of my favorite developers in Boston…I’m excited to see what his plans are for the space after purchase.
November
2010
Back Bay Grand Mansion
448 Beacon St. Boston, MA
Asking Price: $10,500,000
The Scientology Church located on the corner of Hereford and Beacon hit the market last week at a listing price of $10.5M. With 25,000sqft of space, investors can pick up this property at $420/sqft. This is a fair price for the Back Bay, which averages mid 700′s per foot. The building boasts 5 floors of architectural detail with 7 fireplaces. There are over 70 windows that present panoramic city and Charles River views. There are also 14 existing outdoor parking spaces. This masterpiece makes an excellent luxury condo conversion similar to Church Court, another church conversion that anchors the other end of the block on Mass Ave. Our team has put together a comprehensive development analysis of this property for some interested parties. Opportunities such as this rarely come around — whoever takes on this project will be the talk of the town. For more information on this listing or to sit down with an analyst please contact gmorello@live.com
November
2010
Boston’s Mayor Menino claims that the revitalization of the dilapidated Downtown Crossing depends on the cooperation from property owners in that area. The mayor is suggesting a fee based on the assessed value of each owner’s holdings in the crossing. This funding will go towards street cleaning, graffiti removal, and tourist liaisons to direct people within the district. So far, 80% of property owners in that area are on board, which makes up $3M of the $4M proposed annual budget. The majority of this 25% shortfall comes from property giants who own mostly office space on the boarders of the Downtown Crossing district. Outraged, the mayor claims that these owners are “bad neighbors” and are being “selfish”. What are your thoughts here? Personally, I don’t agree with the mayor. To start, the reason why we have property taxes in the first place is to do just what this “fee” is said to take care of. Existing tax payer dollars should already be going to things such as street cleaning and graffiti removal. Secondly – of course many of the smaller retail businesses in that area are going to be on board — their fees are minimal based on their holdings, and these improvements will benefit the retail segment much more than office. The collective fees requested from these office giants could equate to over $1M, which is a very substantial amount on top of what they are already paying in taxes. Additionally, many of these office buildings are located on the outskirts of the district, far from the crux of the “devastation”. Locals argue that it is unfair for only some to pay, but what is truly unfair is for anyone to pay at all. Your thoughts?