Cushman & Wakefield to Manage 1.4 MSF Boston Office Portfolio

Nuveen Real Estate has appointed Cushman & Wakefield as property manager for One Boston Place and 501 Boylston St., totaling some 1.4 million square feet of office space in Boston.

As part of the deal, the brokerage firm hired 16 incumbent agents from the buildings’ management team led by Senior Managing Director Bruce Clifford and Associate Director James Russell.

The company also extended Cushman & Wakefield’s contract to deliver property management services for both 99 High St. and the Fort Point Portfolio, which together encompass more than 1 million square feet. The firm was hired in 2021 to provide its services for these properties.

Two renovated office buildings

Dating back to 1970, One Boston Place is a 41-story tower in downtown Boston. The property went through cosmetic renovations in 2002 and 2005. Located at 201 Washington St., the LEED Gold-certified high-rise features a café, 6,000 square feet of retail space, 18 passenger elevators and floorplates averaging almost 21,000 square feet.

Nuveen acquired the 805,588-square-foot asset in December 2002 for $259 million—or $321.5 per square foot—from Blackstone Group, according to CommercialEdge data. Tenants of the skyscraper include Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, Crossharbor Capital Partners and TM Capital.

The 610,000-square-foot 501 Boylston St. rises 10 stories less than 2 miles from One Boston Place. The building is also within 3 miles from 290 Binney St., a life science project where BXP recently sold a 45 percent interest to Norges Bank Investment Management.

Built in 1940, the building went through a complete makeover in 2008. The property features 62,672-square-foot average floorplates, 12 passenger elevators and some 140,000 square feet of retail space. The LEED Gold-certified property’s roster includes Lego, Burson-Marsteller and PureTech.

Nuveen purchased the asset in 2007 for $370.5 million from Broadway Partners, the same source shows. In April 2016, the owner took out a $216.5 million loan held by Northwestern Mutual. Two years later, Norges Bank Investment Management acquired a 49.9 percent stake in the property for $290.9 million.

Recent office deals in Boston

As of February, Boston held the nation’s largest office development pipeline, with 14.5 million square feet underway, the latest CommercialEdge office report shows. More than two thirds of this space had life sciences as its main use type. The metro’s vacancy rate clocked in at 12.2 percent, marking a 240 basis-point year-over-year increase, but still below the 17.9 percent national average. At that point in time, Boston’s average listing rate stood at $45.6.

In March, an affiliate of Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. signed a 10-year lease extension at 75/125 Binney St. for 222,925 square feet. Alexandria Real Estate Equities Inc. owns the two-building life science property.

A month earlier, BPGbio committed to 70,000 square feet at Lincoln Property Co. and a MetLife Investment Management client’s 300 Third Ave. The company will relocate its headquarters to the 143,533-square-foot building by June next year.