Associated Brokerage Group handles $23 million sale of Gentle Giant headquarters to DLJ Real Estate Capital Partners

Somerville, MA DLJ Real Estate Capital Partners has acquired the office/industrial headquarters site of moving company Gentle Giant for $23 million. The three acre parcel is adjacent to the 3.4 acre site DLJ acquired in a joint venture with Leggat McCall Properties (LMP) in November of 2018 from J.J. Vaccaro, where a 290,000 s/f life sciences building is now being constructed. DLJ has not yet stated its development intentions for the newly acquired site, but the land is zoned as part of the citys TOD 55 zoning overlay, which would allow for the potential development a 600,000 s/f building.

The deal for the Gentle Giant headquarters, located at 29 Harding St. and comprised of administrative offices, storage space and parking lots, was brokered by Bernard Gibbons of Associated Brokerage Group (ABG), who represented the seller and procured the buyer. This is the third deal brokered by Gibbons and ABG in Boynton Yards area in the past 19 months, with sales totaling $56 million. Gibbons also brokered the sale of the J.J. Vaccaro property to DLJ/LMP for $13.5 million, and 561 Windsor St., the 83,000 s/f building that is home to the Taza Chocolate Factory, to Riverside Properties for $20 million in February of 2018.

Situated adjacent to Union Sq. and within a mile of life science and technology hub Kendall Sq., the site is part of the larger Boynton Yards redevelopment. The city envisions the redevelopment as a mixed-use district comprised of lab, office, multifamily, neighborhood retail, and community arts space. The neighborhood is expected to reap dividends from the new Green Line station adjacent to Union Sq., which is scheduled to open in 2021.

“With the in-migration of tech and life science tenants to the Boston and Cambridge markets exerting upward pressure on rents, Somerville and Boynton Yards are poised to be viable alternatives for companies in the knowledge industries seeking well-amenitized space at a more reasonable price point,” said Gibbons. “With the Green Line extension scheduled to open in Union Sq. in 2021, Boynton Yards will be a huge draw for companies in the war for millennial tech talent, which they need to compete in today’s market.”