Spaulding & Slye Colliers of Boston has brokered the $9.4 million sale of 10 Liberty Square (above) and 12 Post Office Square, which comprise an entire city block in downtown Boston.
Boston-based Spaulding & Slye Colliers has brokered the sale of 10 Liberty Square and 12 Post Office Square, two interconnected, historic office buildings that comprise an entire city block in downtown Boston. The buildings sold for $9.4 million.
The deal marks the first downtown acquisition for Marwick Assoc., a Lexington-based, private family-ownership vehicle whose portfolio also includes buildings in the Greater Boston suburbs. Spaulding & Slye Senior Vice Presidents Scott Jamieson and Cappy Daume exclusively represented the seller, Boston University, and the buyer.
Jamieson said that Marwick purchased the properties with the intention of investing additional capital into the common areas, thereby enhancing their position in the marketplace.
“It’s a very sound strategy,” he said. “It’s a way to differentiate a property in an otherwise challenging leasing environment.”
The buildings feature ground-level retail space and renovated upper-level office space. Many of the office suites contain high ceilings, arched windows, fireplaces with mantles and hardwood floors. The buildings, which were constructed in 1900 and 1872, are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Boston University owned the buildings for about 10 years, leasing two floors as a downtown, primarily corporate education center. The university will continue its offices there at least for the next two years, when its lease expires, said John Ebersole, associate provost and dean of BU’s Division of Extended Education. The university is trying to decide if the current computer training classes are the best use for the property. Ebersole said that the university will probably offer more banking and financial service classes at the site in the future.
Old and New
Marwick Assoc. isn’t alone in its plans to upgrade the common areas of downtown properties. In a market that favors tenants, landlords are trying to distinguish themselves – and their lobbies – as a way to attract new deals.
“There’s been a lot of attention to lobby spaces,” said Lois Goodell, director of interior design at the Boston-based architectural firm CBT/Childs Bertman Tseckares. “Clients want to distinguish their own corporations and they’re focusing a lot of decisions on creating a sense of place.”
CBT just completed a lobby renovation at One Boston Place. The property, an established Boston address, needed an updated look. CBT created a new entryway with a glass-and-metal structure that extends out into the street, producing a mix of old and new. Companies want a unique approach.
“You might like the building’s historic qualities or the neighborhood – it has the heart of old Boston but you want to create a sense that the building has the most current amenities,” she said.
In the search for tenants, a renovated lobby has the power to make brokers and their clients pay attention, and hopefully, remember.
“Landlords are still very eager to fill their buildings and are being quite aggressive about offering rent rates and tenant improvement dollars,” said Marc Margulies, principal of Margulies & Assoc. in Boston. “Even tenants who would like to stay are in the market so they can understand their options. If they chose to stay, they do so by getting tenant improvement dollars to spruce up their existing space. I see this day in and day out with everyone I talk to.”
Improvements can range from one extreme to the other. Tenants moving into a new building may need an office overhaul while others may require minor details.
“There’s no clear evidence of companies with an appetite for extravagance,” Margulies said. “Universally, people want to spend their money wisely and the improvements they’re making [to be] appropriate to their business image.”
For example, a financial services industry that prides itself on its high-tech component may not reign in expenses on quality computers and supports.
The design market of today differs from that of the 1990s, when dot-com companies thrived. During the high-tech boom, executives wanted very open environments and amenities such as fitness centers, game rooms and Internet cafes.
“We see a lot of leftover fitness equipment and foosball tables, so we’re not replicating that,” Margulies said.
Because of the speed of change and growth at that time, dot com executives were willing to experiment with design, mostly because they figured that they would outgrow the space quickly, according to Margulies. Now, businesses are making more conservative decisions, more suited for longer occupancies.
“People will continue to be very careful for a while,” he said. “It appears to me that the business climate has stabilized … there’s a desire of senior management to provide a stable work force with a good environment. They don’t want turnover. We don’t see any frivolity but a continuing respect for the quality of work space.”
