BOSTON– The Commercial Brokers Association (CBA) announced the winners of the 2017 CBA Achievement Awards at its annual awards dinner on March 22 at the InterContinental Boston. The awards recognize the Greater Boston area’s most significant real estate deals of 2017 and honor local industry professionals who have distinguished themselves among their peers.
At the awards dinner, Cushman & Wakefield Vice Chairman Michael Joyce was presented with CBA’s top honor, the McCall Leadership Award. Formerly the Broker of the Year Award, it was re-named to honor Bill McCall, President and Founder of McCall & Almy, in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the Greater Boston commercial real estate industry during a distinguished career.
Deal of the Year Awards were presented for Office (Boston, Greater Cambridge and Suburban), Retail, Industrial, Life Science and Most Creative deals, as well as the Investment Sale of the Year. In addition, a new President’s Council Special Recognition Award was given to recognize an exceptional, multifaceted transaction. Special Recognition Awards also were presented for the Landlord, Rising Star, and Collaborating Professional of the Year.
2017 Deal of the Year Award Winners are:
Office – Boston: PTC Headquarters lease
Global software company PTC Inc. wanted to move its headquarters from Needham to Boston’s Seaport District by the first quarter of 2019, and was seeking an exceptional location that would make a bold statement. With the help of Cresa, PTC found what it was looking for at 121 Seaport Boulevard, signing a 17-year lease for 250,000 square feet on nine floors. Newmark Knight Frank represented the landlord, Skanska, while Cresa represented the tenant, PTC.
Office – Greater Cambridge: InterSystems Corporation lease
InterSystems Corporation, a global leader in health information technology, had been a long-time tenant at One Memorial in Cambridge, leasing about 150,000 square feet of space. With its lease due to expire in 2018, InterSystems wanted to renew and expand at One Memorial; however, the building was completely leased. To accommodate the company’s needs, the landlord converted an existing above-ground parking floor into approximately 42,000 square feet of first-class office space, leading to the largest office lease deal signed in Cambridge in 2017. Transwestern Consulting Group represented the landlord, Oxford Properties, and CBRE | New England represented the tenant, InterSystems.
Office – Suburban: Astellas Institute of Regenerative Medicine lease, Westborough, MA
This two-stage deal involved Bose terminating its lease at 9 Technology Drive in Westborough, in a contingent termination agreement that made way for the Astellas Institute of Regenerative Medicine to occupy the space and had to take into consideration both Astellas’s and Bose’s relocation schedules. In the second stage of the transaction, Astellas signed a lease agreement at 9 Technology Drive that allows for short-term and future expansion of the facility to suit Astellas’s needs. Bose was represented by McCall & Almy, Astellas was represented by MB Real Estate, and landlord W.P. Carey was represented by Newmark Knight Frank.
Retail: Trillium Brewing Company lease, Boston, MA
Newmark Knight Frank’s retail team was seeking an anchor tenant for Invesco/Crosspoint’s historic Thomson Place holdings in the heart of Boston’s Fort Point district, and approached Fort Point brewer Trillium Brewing Company as a potential tenant for the key ground-floor retail space. To convince Trillium, the developer sponsored a block party in 2016 at which Trillium hosted a popular outdoor beer tent, which led to the company signing a lease for 16,000 square feet of space at Thomson Place. Newmark Knight Frank represented the landlord, Invesco/Crosspoint, while Transwestern Consulting Group represented the tenant, Venture Retail.
Industrial: 66 Saratoga Boulevard expansion & lease-up, Devens, MA
After securing the lease renewal of 275,392 square feet of space for the bulk of the existing 66 Saratoga Boulevard facility in Devens on behalf of Quiet Logistics, a leading e-commerce fulfillment service, CBRE | New England and Colliers International presented the building’s owner with a comprehensive market analysis that showed the Interstate 495/Route 2 West submarket had experienced the most absorption of all area submarkets since 2010 and that the vacancy rate for high-bay space in the area was virtually zero. As a result, it was decided to expand 66 Saratoga Boulevard via new construction. CBRE | New England represented the landlord, CIP Saratoga Boulevard LLC (a joint venture of GFI Partners and CrossHarbor Capital), and Colliers International represented the tenant, Quiet Logistics.
Life Science: Shire Human Genetic Therapies sublease, Cambridge, MA
The acquisition of Ariad Pharmaceuticals by Takeda Pharmaceuticals in February 2017 resulted in space being freed up at Ariad’s former headquarters at 125 Binney Street in Cambridge. Cushman & Wakefield, representing Takeda, reached out to life-science firms that might be interested in subleasing the space, leading to Shire Human Genetic Therapies taking nearly 223,000 square feet at 125 Binney to further consolidate and expand its workforce in Kendall Square. Shire was represented in the transaction by Transwestern Consulting Group.
Most Creative: Brattle Court at Harvard Square, Cambridge, MA
Brattle Court – comprising two buildings totaling 61,858 square feet of office and retail space in the heart of Harvard Square – had been owned by the Dow/Sterns Trust since the 1930s, but the sale of the properties was ordered by the Massachusetts Land Court due to a dispute involving the owners. Because the properties hadn’t changed hands for nearly a century, extensive reviews and studies of Brattle Court had to be conducted due to minimal existing property information. Despite these and other challenges, Brattle Court was sold within three months for $108 million, or $1,746 per square foot. CBRE | New England represented the sellers; the buyer, Asana Partners, represented themselves.
Investment Sale: 10 St. James Avenue & 75 Arlington Street, Boston, MA
Tokyo’s Mori Trust entered the U.S. commercial real estate market for the first time last year, purchasing the mixed-use 10 St. James & 75 Arlington Street complex from Liberty Mutual Insurance for $673 million. Comprising two buildings connected by a glass-covered galleria and totaling 824,772 square feet, the property is anchored by Liberty Mutual, the hedge-fund Baupost Group and the international law firm of Holland & Knight LLP, and includes 33,200 square feet of retail that includes Davio’s restaurant, the Montage furniture store and Orangetheory Fitness, as well as a four-level, 400-space underground parking garage. Newmark Knight Frank represented the seller, Liberty Mutual Insurance, and SMTB (Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank) represented the buyer, Mori Trust.
President’s Council Special Recognition Award: Five-Party Waltham Mega Deal
This complicated deal started with National Grid subleasing 68,000 square feet of office space from Dynatrace at FM Global’s 404 Wyman Street in Waltham, rather than re-occupying space it had terminated at Massachusetts General Physician Organization’s 52 Second Avenue in Waltham, which was represented by McCall & Almy. Then Dynatrace, represented by Transwestern Consulting Group, relocated to 40,000 square feet of direct lease space at Boston Properties’ Reservoir Place at 1601 Trapelo Road in Waltham. Finally, Dynatrace’s move to Reservoir Place required JLL to help another client, Constant Contact, restructure its existing lease. In the end, the Five-Party Waltham Mega Deal required patience, collaboration, careful synchronization and constant weighing of potential options to best serve both tenants and landlords.
2017 Special Recognition Award Winners are:
McCall Leadership Award: Michael Joyce, Cushman & Wakefield
A major force in the downtown Boston market over the past several decades, Michael Joyce has been involved in numerous major transactions that have earned him widespread respect among tenants, landlords and peers within the local commercial real estate community. In 2017, while a partner at Transwestern RBJ, he worked on the Boston Consulting Group’s planned move later this year to the new Pier Four development in the Seaport; Santander Bank’s renewal of 160,000 square feet of space at 75 Washington Street; and the Boston Celtics’ planned move later this year into new practice facilities at Boston Landing. Joyce joined Cushman & Wakefield as vice chairman in January.
Landlord of the Year: Atlantic Management
Known for acquiring abandoned or outdated commercial suburban properties and successfully repositioning them, Atlantic Management controls about 6.5 million square feet of space across eastern Massachusetts, most of which is in the suburbs. Last year, Atlantic Management teamed up with VMD Companies to buy the 50-acre Necco property in Revere, and also purchased the 66-acre former AstraZeneca property in Westborough with the goal of eventually repositioning the site, possibly into an R&D facility or other commercial use.
Rising Star of the Year: Bobby Jangro, JLL
Bobby Jangro, a vice president at JLL, has worked with companies of all shapes and sizes during his seven years with the firm, from young tech startups to Fortune 100 companies. In 2017, the transactions he worked on as part of JLL’s brokerage team included serving as market lead for a $200 billion public tech company’s regional site selection and as an account manager for a private tech company’s expansion into three different continents.
Collaborating Professional of the Year: Fusion Design Consultants, Inc.
Founded in Boston in 2005, Fusion Design Consultants Inc. has built a solid client base, a reputation for striking interior designs and a talented team of about 20 employees dedicated to helping firms define and brand themselves via the interior design of their workplaces. In 2017, Fusion Design helped reposition and redesign the 60,000-square-foot office space of Hinkley Allen at 28 State Street and is currently working on the redesign of the interior of Bain & Co.’s 70,000 square-foot offices at 131 Dartmouth.
Founded in 1991 as the Commercial Leasing Committee of the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA), the Commercial Brokers Association was established as a division of the Greater Boston Real Estate Board (GBREB) in 2000. Today, CBA represents more than 400 members in the commercial brokerage community throughout Massachusetts. CBA is deeply committed to providing relevant educational programs, promoting professionalism and cooperation, and creating an atmosphere where knowledge and ideas are easily exchanged.
