Boston–The Commercial Brokers Association, known as CBA, announced the winners of the 2018 CBA Achievement Awards at its annual awards dinner on Thursday, March 21st at the InterContinental Boston.  The awards recognize the Greater Boston area’s most significant real estate deals of 2018 and honor local industry professionals who have distinguished themselves among their peers.

At the awards dinner, Newmark Knight Frank’s Executive Managing Director, Debra Gould, was presented with CBA’s top honor, the McCall Leadership Award, formerly the Broker of the Year Award.  Carolyn Wheatley, Senior Associate at CBRE, Inc. was honored with the Rising Star Award.

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. New this year was a Multifamily Deal of the Year Award.  Special Recognition Awards were presented for the Landlord, Rising Star, and Collaborating Professional of the Year.

2018 Deal of the Year Award Winners are:

Office – Boston:  Verizon at the Hub on Causeway

In a landmark transaction, Verizon agreed to a 20-year deal with Boston Properties for 445,000 square feet of space at The Hub on Causeway, the planned massive mixed-used development at North Station. The Verizon lease deal was the largest for the city of Boston in 2018.  The landlord, Boston Properties, represented themselves. Cushman & Wakefield represented the tenant, Verizon.

Office – Greater Cambridge:  PUMA Headquarters

A nearly 150,000-square-foot lease at the yet-to-be-built 455 Grand Union Boulevard in Somerville’s Assembly Row, PUMA will now become the second largest office tenant at Assembly Row. PUMA’s new space will occupy a full five floors in the building, with approximately 550 employees. JLL represented the landlord, Federal Realty Investment Trust. Cushman & Wakefield represented the tenant, PUMA North America.

Office – Suburban:  Alkermes Lease, 900 Winter Street, Waltham

The company, which is developing innovative medicines for the treatment of central nervous system (CNS) diseases, last year announced it is expanding to a new build-to-suit building currently under construction by Davis Marcus Partners at 900 Winter Street in Reservoir Woods, Waltham. The new 220,000 square feet of space at Reservoir Woods will allow the company to expand both its research and development capabilities in Waltham. The deal is also structured to provide Alkermes with exclusive expansion rights for an adjacent build-to-suit facility at 910 Winter Street.  CBRE represented the landlord, Davis Marcus Partners. JLL represented the tenant, Alkermes PLC.

Retail:  Mighty Squirrel

The initially envisioned 12,000-square-foot project expanded to nearly 24,000 square feet, as officials realized the space’s full potential. After signing a 15-year lease last year, Mighty Squirrel now has a new home with a tap room, meeting space, a fully functional brewing and canning operation that everyone can view from nearly every corner of the space – and it even has a world-class climbing wall in an adjacent space for visitors to watch or try their hand at climbing, prior to indulging in a beer or two. Hunneman represented both the landlord, Duffy Properties and the tenant, Mighty Squirrel.

Industrial:  – Quiet Logistics Lease, 64 Jackson Road, Devens

The 355,000-square-foot Class A warehouse/distribution facility on 34.89 acres in Devens was purchased by GFI Partners in March 2018.  The new operations at 64 Jackson are expected to boost 150 full-time job opportunities. Newmark Knight Frank represented the landlord, GFI. Colliers International represented the tenant, Quiet Logistics.

Life Science:  Sanofi at Cambridge Crossing, 350 and 450 Dawes Street, Cambridge

Sanofi opted to sign a long-term lease with developer DivcoWest Real Estate Investments to occupy 901,233 square feet in two build-to-suit buildings at Cambridge Crossing in East Cambridge. The transaction qualifies as the largest lease signed in Cambridge in 2018 and the largest single lease in Greater Boston in the past decade.  The landlord, DivcoWest, represented themselves. The tenant, Sanofi, was represented by Zell Partnership.

Multifamily: TROY Boston

Gerding Edlen sold TROY Boston, the new luxury high-rise apartment community at 55 Traveler St. & 266 East Berkeley, for just over $216 million, or $907.44 per square foot, to Equity Residential, which now adds TROY Boston’s 378 units to its sprawling multifamily residential empire across the country. CBRE, Inc. represented the seller, Gerding Edlen. The buyer, Equity Residential, represented themselves.

Most Creative: Baldor Specialty Foods

Baldor Specialty Foods, whose products have become a favorite for Boston and New York City’s top chefs, soon found out what other industrial tenants have discovered to their dismay: available premium warehouse and other industrial space is scarce across the region. After a long and exhaustive search, the CBRE, Inc. team, identified a seven-acre site at 130 Eastern Ave. in Chelsea. In the end, Baldor Specialty Foods signed a 99,500 square foot build-to-suit lease that will give them the modern, fully refrigerated wholesale center they needed. The landlord, National Development, represented themselves. The tenant, Baldor Specialty Foods, was represented by CBRE.

Investment Sale:  Pier 4 Boston

Tishman Speyer had barely completed construction of the new Pier 4 office building in the Seaport last Spring when it turned around and sold the 372,372-square-foot waterfront office facility to CommonWealth Partners later that Summer.  The sale price of $450 million, or $1,208.47 per square foot, was the highest per-square-foot price ever achieved for a single office asset in Boston. Newmark Knight Frank represented the seller, Tishman Speyer. The buyer, CommonWealth Partners, represented themselves.

Investment Sale: 828-830 Winter Street in Waltham

The sale of 828-830 Winter Street in Waltham was the most notable lab sale of 2018.  This 331,000-square-foot trophy laboratory asset was sold by a partnership between The Carlyle Group and King Street Properties to Morgan Stanley’s Prime Property Fund for $240 million. The sale achieved what was the high-water mark for price per square foot at the time of $725 per square foot, despite the combined buildings being just 56 percent leased.  Comprised of a 186,000-square foot fully occupied building anchored by Immunogen (830 Winter Street) and a newly developed 145,000-square-foot state-of-the-art laboratory building, the property is the largest Class A lab facility outside of Kendall Square.  JLL represented the sellers, The Carlyle Group and King Street Properties. The buyer, Morgan Stanley, represented themselves.

2018 Special Recognition Award Winners are:

McCall Leadership Award:  Debra Gould, Newmark Knight Frank

As executive managing director and manager of Newmark Knight Frank’s 11 broker downtown team, Debra remains a leading broker in some of Boston’s significant commercial real estate deals. Outside of her professional work, she and her husband founded the Gould Family Foundation in 2007, focusing on maternal and newborn health in sub-Saharan Africa. The Youth Mountain Adventure Program was also founded by the Goulds in 2007. In addition, Debra Gould currently serves as a host member of First Literacy’s largest fundraiser – the Spelling Bee. First Literacy focuses on adult literacy programs. Debra Gould was the third female recipient of the McCall Leadership Award.

Landlord of the Year:  King Street

In 2010, King Street Properties started developing new lab spaces for life science firms in the Boston area. Today, King Street Properties, with 12 buildings with a current combined valuation of $1.5 billion, is the largest private owner/operator of life science real estate in Greater Boston. The firm, founded in 2001, shows no signs of slowing down, as it rolls out new projects that will only add to its already impressive portfolio of holdings.

King Street’s tenants include Celgene Corp., GSK (GlaxoSmithKline), ImmunoGen, Replimune Group, Inc. and Wave Life Sciences.

Among its civic and charitable activities, King Street is particularly proud of its co-sponsorship of the Mass Life Science Center’s Next Generation Initiative, a five-year, $2 million effort to promote gender parity in science entrepreneurship through grants and executive coaching awarded through an annual competition.

Rising Star of the Year:  Carolyn Wheatley, CBRE, Inc.

As a senior associate at CBRE, Wheatley, who’s worked in commercial real estate for four years now, was the recipient of the Rising Star Award.  Last year, she worked on several transactions, including representing Akouos in a 37,000-square-foot lab and office space deal at 645 Summer Street in Boston; HiFiBio Therapeutics in a 24,000-square-foot lab and office space deal at 237 Putnam Avenue in Cambridge; and BlueRock Therapeutics in a 13,000-square-foot lease and expansion deal at One Broadway in Cambridge. Prior to her work career, after college, she spent a year in Philadelphia working for AmeriCorps, helping people to develop entrepreneur skills and create an entrepreneurial culture in the city. She later had her own entrepreneurial experience, joining a socially conscious start-up making filtered water bottles. When not working, she volunteers at Enable Boston, a Park Street Church ministry for children and young adults with special needs.

Collaborating Professional of the Year:  Dain Torpy

Formed in 2006 by attorneys from some of the biggest law firms in Boston, Dain Torpy, today led by Co-founder, President and Chairman Daniel Dain, has grown over the years from five attorneys to today’s 19 attorneys, helping a variety of clients with their commercial real estate needs. Among the representative transactions in 2018, Dain Torpy represented Nuveen as landlord in the negotiations of a lease at 501 Boylston Street to Wework for more than 100,000 square feet; PUMA North America as tenant in the negotiations of a lease at Assembly Row for approximately 150,000 square feet; and a publicly-traded online marketplace in a full-building, 50,000-square-foot lease to expand its Cambridge headquarters.

Among the property owners that it has worked with over the years are Boston Properties, Oxford Properties, Clarion Development and Synergy Investments, to name just a few.

About the Commercial Brokers Association

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.