Boston, MA Eastern Consolidated has brought a national investor to the city’s real estate market to buy a 74,500 s/f retail and office property at 399 Washington St., which has been vacant for 10 years. The property traded for $63.25 million.
Eastern Consolidated brokers Evan Papanastasiou, director, represented the seller, and Adelaide Polsinelli, senior managing director and principal, procured the buyer.
The building, which has 70 ft. of frontage on Washington St., formerly housed Barnes & Noble and is one of the last pieces to be redeveloped in Downtown Crossing.
“The institutional and international investment climate in Boston has drastically changed in the last few years as it has become a top tier city for capital preservation,” said Papanastasiou.
“Boston has become attractive to national investors because it has one of the best medical and university systems in the world, and the job market has never been stronger as Cambridge has become a mini-Silicon Valley and companies like GE and Vertex having relocated their headquarters to the city, with more to follow.”
Polsinelli continued, “Eastern Consolidated’s strong reach enabled us to bring a buyer with a long-term vision for the asset. National investors clearly view the Boston retail market to be valuable and were more bullish on the property’s retail and creative office potential than the local investors.”
This corridor of Washington Street in particular is Boston’s top destination for fast casual retailers and luxury residential development.
Across the street from 399 Washington St. is the Millennium Tower, a luxury residential skyscraper with a retail component that includes Primark, Old Navy, Roche Bros and Michelin star chef, Michael Mina. The development pre-sold 98 percent of the condominiums including the Penthouse, which sold for a record $37,500,000.
On the corner of Bromfield St. and Washington St. there is a proposed 59-foot tower that could be bringing 419-units and another 30,000 s/f of retail to the area. Other nearby noteworthy retailers include Forever21, Marshalls, TJ Maxx, DSW & Macy’s.
