BOSTON—Fresh off the news Amrheins Restaurant is under agreement to a local developer, another slice of vintage South Boston CRE is being made available to investors, and Boston Realty Advisors’ 416 West Broadway exclusive is expected to draw a similarly brisk response to that generated five blocks away at 85 West Broadway where the community’s oldest dining spot is about to yield $18 million for a half-acre footprint, that trade through Newmark first unveiled last week by Real Reporter.
As to the new West Broadway opportunity, “retail really drives the deal,” says BRA partner Michael d’Hemecourt, leader of the firm’s retail practice group which is taking charge of the assignment representing client CORE Investments on a four-story, 26,000-sf asset featuring office product above the retail in a building “meticulously” renovated in 2018.
BRA is also engaging its Capital Markets platform featuring company founder Jason Weissman plus Associate Director Kevin Benzinger, while prospects will receive guidance on the office sector climate from partner Bonny L. Doorakian. Partner Nicholas M. Herz, who oversees BRA’s structured finance operation, is providing debt options to bidders desiring to leverage the deal.
“We have everybody helping out on this very important (listing),” says Weissman whose firm is classifying the asset as a core-plus opportunity. “It has really nice cash flow, but there is a solid value-add component to it,” explains d’Hemecourt, adding the office space could also function in a retail capacity, especially for so-called “destination” uses such as a fitness center.
There is no asking price for the brick-faced building at the juncture of F Street where a cluster of popular restaurants is assembled, one of them the globally known Caffe Nero which is a denizen of 416 West Broadway along with another little shop there known as Verizon. The seven tenants have a weighted average lease term over eight years remaining and more than nine years for the ground floor retail tenants. BRA also touts “a dramatic corner street presence commanded by the building’s distinctive red brick exterior and large glass storefronts.”
Other eateries in the area are the Capo Restaurant & Supper Club, Lincoln Tavern; and the Loco Taqueria, while d’Hemecourt points to a J.P. Licks Ice Cream unit as another sign of the retail boom coming to a neighborhood bolstered by the arrival of multifamily and a new commercial element Weissman notes is on the cusp of making an even bigger impact exemplified in plans by Alexandria Real Estate and Anchor Line Partners to develop over 200,000 sf of lab space closer to the Amrheins site at the corner of A Street and West Broadway.
CORE Investments principal David Pogorelc has been an investor in metropolitan Boston for an extended period, with other holdings near South Station and the Financial District. The firm bought into 416 West Broadway in October 2015 with a $1.8 million purchase backed by acquisition and improvement financing of $4.3 million from Workers’ Credit Union of Fitchburg. CORE is also developer of an ambitious mixed-use project being developed with Samuels & Associates in Southie’s nearby Andrew Square.
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