Boston— Newmark Knight Frank (NKF) has completed the sale of 55 Seaport Boulevard in Boston to Zurich Alternative Asset Management for $23.5 million.
Led by U.S. Head of Capital Markets Robert Griffin, Vice Chairman Edward Maher, Executive Managing Director Matthew Pullen, Managing Director Justin Smith, Director James Tribble and Associate Director Samantha Hallowell, NKF’s Boston Capital Markets group, in conjunction with NKF Executive Managing Directors David Martel and Jonathan Martin, oversaw the transaction of the 13,500-square-foot office/retail building on behalf of Boston Global Investors (BGI).
The ZAAM team was led by Roy Rosenbaum, director of acquisitions, and Sean Bannon, managing director and head of U.S. real estate.
Completed by BGI in 2016, 55 Seaport Boulevard is 100 percent leased to BGI, a leading real estate development and consulting firm, and Capital One (NYSE: COF), one of the 10 largest banks in the United States. The property serves as BGI’s headquarters facility and Capital One’s flagship Seaport District bank and 360 Café.
“55 Seaport Boulevard represents an exceptional ‘bite-sized’ investment in one of Boston’s most active development districts,” said Pullen. “The asset also enjoys strong visibility at the gateway to the Seaport District and across the bridge from Downtown Boston.”
55 Seaport Boulevard benefits from an unmatched location within Seaport Square, a 23-acre, 6.3 million-square-foot mixed-use development and the largest master-planned project in Boston’s history. Originally approved as a joint development of BGI, Morgan Stanley and WS Development, this brand-new urban neighborhood is slated to transform the Seaport District into a 24/7 place to live, work, shop and play with a vibrant mix of world-class office and research space, residences, retail shops, restaurants, hotels and cultural institutions. One Seaport Square, a key focal point of the development comprising two residential towers with 832 luxury apartment units and 250,000 square feet of retail space highlighted by a Kerasotes Showplace Icon movie theater, Equinox fitness center and Kings bowling alley, is located directly across from 55 Seaport Boulevard.
Boston Global Investors (BGI) is a leading real estate development and consulting firm headquartered in Boston. Led by John Hynes and a team of experienced real estate professionals, BGI has decades of experience developing commercial, residential and mixed-use projects from landmark towers to city-scale development. Current projects include Seaport Square, a 6.3 million square foot urban neighborhood on Boston’s waterfront, the redevelopment of United Technology Corporation’s 46-acre Rocketdyne facility within LA Warner Center in Los Angeles, as well as large-scale master planning assignments in North America and Asia. BGI and its development team, BGI Development Advisors, have also recently completed construction on One Seaport Square and Yotel Boston. Together these two projects represent over 1.2 million square feet of new development in the Seaport.
John Hynes is a co-founder with Gale International in the Songdo International Business District (Songdo IBD), a massive US $35 billion, 100 million square foot master planned city in South Korea. Prior to forming BGI, Mr. Hynes and partners developed the 1.1 million square foot State Street Financial Center tower and the 500,000 square foot 101 Arch Street tower, both located in Boston.
Zurich Alternative Asset Management (ZAAM) is the alternative investment adviser to Zurich and its affiliates that is responsible for Zurich’s hedge fund, private equity and U.S. real estate investments. ZAAM runs a national core and core-plus acquisition program out of New York which targets office, retail, industrial and multi-family assets valued between $15 million and $100 million throughout 20 major markets in the United States. ZAAM currently manages approximately $2.3 billion of commercial real estate exposure in the Unites States for its various affiliated balance sheets.
