Boston Mixed-Use Building Commands $107M

By Keith Loria

226 Causeway

The Rockpoint Group has acquired 226 Causeway, a 192,890-square-foot retail and office condominium building in Boston, from Invesco for $107 million. NKF’s Boston Capital Markets team represented the seller in the transaction.

A big draw of 226 Causeway is that it is located in a popular transit-oriented area, directly adjacent to North Station, the Leonard Zakim Bridge and Interstate 93. The building is also near The Hub on Causeway, a transformative 1.5 million-square-foot residential, retail and office addition to the TD Garden, most notably known as the event home of the Boston Bruins and the Boston Celtics.

“(The property) epitomizes the ‘cool core’ investment profile, offering stable cash flow and tangible upside potential,” said NKF Vice Chairman Edward Maher, in a prepared statement. “The asset is the beneficiary of significant capital improvements, resulting in best-in-class physical infrastructure, highlighted by rare 35,000-square-foot floor plates and up to 13 feet and 5 inches ceiling heights.”

Maher, Co-Head of U.S. Capital Markets Robert Griffin, Executive Managing Director Matthew Pullen, Director James Tribble and Associate Director Samantha Hallowell all worked on the deal.

Top-of-the-line tenant roster

The 112-year-old property is well known in the Boston area for serving as corporate headquarters for NBA’s Boston Celtics, Oxfam America and two divisions of TripAdvisor. The building’s tenant roster also includes a key regional office for Stantec as well as retail tenants such as Equal Exchange Café and Title Boxing Club. In 2015, Invesco paid $91.7 million for the property, buying the 12-story building from Spear Street Capital.

Recently, Invesco formed a partnership with The Spectrum Cos. to bring a new mixed-use destination to Charlotte, N.C., featuring 445,000 square feet of office space and a 200-key hotel. Together, the companies will develop a five-acre parcel on South Tryon Street at Carson Boulevard in the city’s South End, just outside of Uptown.

Image courtesy of NKF