TCG Lines Up Financing for Celtics’ Practice Facility

By Gail Kalinoski

A month after helping arrange financing for the Boston Bruins’ new training facility at Boston Landing, Transwestern Consulting Group made a similar play for the city’s basketball team, securing a construction and permanent financing loan from East Boston Savings Bank for the Celtics’ new practice site, also to be located at the new mixed-use development in Brighton, Mass.

Boston Landing at 40 Guest St.

TCG arranged the financing for the planned 160,000-square-foot building at 40 Guest St. that will include a 71,000-square-foot training and basketball practice facility on behalf of NB Development Group. TCG Partner Chris Skeffington and Vice President Andrew Stone worked with NB Development Group Managing Director Jim Halliday and New Balance Treasurer Kevin Doyle to secure the loan from East Boston Savings Bank, led by bank Vice President Ed Rich.

The state-of-the art building, which broke ground in November at the Boston Landing site, will be called the Auerbach Center at New Balance World Headquarters in honor of the Celtics legend Red Auerbach who was a coach and team executive. It will also feature two floors of Class A laboratory and office space totaling about 83,500 square feet and 5,700 square feet of retail space. The project is expected to be completed by mid-2018.

“NB Development Group has redefined the term ‘mixed-use’ with Boston Landing. The development includes lab and office space, retail, residential and hotel, as well as state-of-the-art sports training facilities,” Skeffington said in a prepared statement. “There’s no other development like it in Greater Boston. East Boston Savings Bank has a deep appreciation for ownership’s vision for Boston Landing and has been an excellent partner in bringing it to life.”

TCG is providing leasing and property management services for the $500 million Boston Landing development. In late March, TCG arranged a short-term construction loan on behalf of NB Development Group for 80 Guest St. from U.S. Bank and TD Bank. It was to be used for the remaining construction on that property, a 265,000-square-foot building that contains office space, labs and the Warrior Ice Arena, the new training and practice facility for the NHL’s Boston Bruins.

Boston Landing is located along the Massachusetts Turnpike next to the recently completed world headquarters of New Balance Athletic Shoe Inc. New Balance Development Group is New Balance’s real estate and development arm, which is building Boston Landing in a joint venture with HYM Investment Group LLC, a Boston-based real estate company. Boston Landing was approved in mid-2012. When completed, it will include 650,000 square feet of office and lab space; the Bruins’ and Celtics’ practice facilities; a 175-room hotel; a track and field sports center; 295-unit apartment building; 80,000 square feet of retail and 1.4 acres of landscaped open space. This spring, a newly constructed commuter rail station is expected to open at Boston Landing providing a quick trip into downtown Boston.