File photo courtesy of JLL
Lender Starwood Property Trust acquired a Fort Point office building that was converted into lab space for $57.2 million.
The Miami Beach investor agreed to assume the remaining mortgage debt on 33-41 Farnsworth St. from Boston-based seller MLL Capital, according to a Suffolk County deed.
MLL Capital acquired the property in December 2021 for $73.6 million for an office-to-lab conversion, receiving nearly $80 million in mortgage financing from Starwood Property Trust.
The property’s 18,000-square-foot floor plates and over 14-foot ceiling heights were marketed as being ideal for a life science conversion when previous owner TIAA placed it on the market in 2021. The building had temporarily served as GE’s headquarters when the corporate giant initially relocated to Boston in 2016.
Starwood Property Trust is a publicly traded real estate investor that manages a portfolio of over $25 billion in debt and equity.
MLL Capital did not respond to a request for comment at the time this story was published.
Like the rest of Greater Boston, lab vacancies have continued to climb in Boston’s Seaport District in the past two years. According to a report issued this month by brokerage Colliers, the 4.8 million-square-foot Seaport submarket vacancy rate topped 45 percent.
One preleased project passed a significant milestone on Tuesday. Developers Related Beal held a topping-off ceremony marking completion of framing for Vertex Pharmaceuticals’ Leiden Center III, a 345,000 square-foot office and lab building at 22 Drydock Ave.
Vertex committed to occupying the building in 2022. The structure will connect to the existing Leiden Center buildings with a nearly 100-foot-long sky bridge.
Region-wide, the vacancy rate in the 56.8 million square-foot lab market hit 28.8 percent, according to Colliers. That translates into 12 million square feet of direct space and nearly 4 million square feet of sublease space on the market.
The glut follows construction of more than 70 lab buildings totaling 15 million square feet since the beginning of 2023, over 60 percent of which is available. Another 4 million square feet is still under construction.
