CAMBRIDGE, MA–A Seattle-based real estate firm has purchased an office building in Cambridge for $25 million and plans to transform the property into housing, according to a report by the Boston Business Journal.
Tourbineau Real Estate Partners paid $25 million for the eight-story building at 955 Massachusetts Ave., a roughly 93,000-square-foot property located between Harvard and Central squares, BBJ reported. The firm is planning a conversion that could create between 125 and 150 residential units.
The project would mark Tourbineau’s first investment in the Boston area and what BBJ described as one of the first significant office-to-residential conversion projects in Cambridge.
Ben Wong, Tourbineau’s co-founder and chief investment officer, told the Boston Business Journal that the building is currently about 20% leased, with the existing tenants’ leases expected to expire soon.
“We’ll have basically a blank canvas to work with,” Wong told BBJ.
Property sold for a fraction of 2020 price
The $25 million purchase represents a steep decline from the property’s previous sale price.
According to BBJ, Intercontinental Real Estate Corp. purchased the Cambridge building for $101 million on March 18, 2020, shortly after the World Health Organization declared Covid-19 a pandemic and the United States declared a national emergency.
The property’s current assessed value is approximately $50 million, BBJ reported.
The transaction is another example of the decline in values for some office properties since the pandemic, as companies have reduced office footprints and remote and hybrid work have reshaped demand for commercial space.
Tourbineau’s purchase closed Monday, according to BBJ. Colliers represented the seller in the transaction.
Firm sees opportunity in Greater Boston
Tourbineau was founded in 2024 by Wong and Jonas Sylvester, who previously worked together at Seattle commercial real estate firm Unico Properties, according to the Boston Business Journal.
The firm was created around the idea of finding new uses for underutilized office properties. Its projects have included converting an office building into a hotel in Nashville and another office property into self-storage in Seattle.
BBJ reported that Tourbineau also has properties in markets including Honolulu, Oklahoma City, Raleigh, Sacramento, San Francisco, Silicon Valley and the Washington, D.C., region.
“The writing was on the wall,” Wong told BBJ, describing the shift in real estate investment toward alternative uses for office buildings.
The Cambridge acquisition is not expected to be Tourbineau’s only investment in the region. Wong told BBJ that the firm is also examining potential properties in Boston and other major markets.
According to BBJ, Wong said Tourbineau is bullish on Greater Boston because of the region’s housing demand and strong technology sector.
Cambridge office-to-housing conversions remain limited
The proposed project comes as developers and investors continue to explore residential conversions for office buildings that have struggled to attract tenants since the pandemic.
Boston has become a major focus of that trend, in part because the city offers tax incentives for certain office-to-residential conversion projects. BBJ reported that Boston has 28 such projects on the books.
Cambridge, by comparison, has had relatively few major office-to-housing proposals.
BBJ reported that the other significant office-to-residential conversion proposed in Cambridge involves the former Moderna headquarters at 161 First St. in Technology Square. Alexandria Real Estate Equities is seeking to convert that property into affordable housing.
For Tourbineau, the 955 Massachusetts Ave. project provides an opportunity to enter the Greater Boston residential market while repurposing an office property whose value has fallen substantially from its pre-pandemic sale price.
