Image courtesy of Mass Design Group
The acquisition of a downtown Boston office building will give nonprofit Embrace Boston a new cultural hub steps from its landmark sculpture. It also represents a vote of confidence in the neighborhood’s commercial real estate market.
The organization behind the Embrace Boston monument on Boston Common acquired 33-41 West St., a pair of connected office buildings in Downtown Crossing near the Massachusetts Bar Association offices, for $9.55 million this week. It previously planned to occupy a new building in the since-cancelled Parcel P-3 redevelopment project in Roxbury.
Avison Young worked with Embrace Boston to find a well-occupied office property that will provide investment income, as well as hosting rotating art exhibitions, a café, media studio, community meeting space and public art.
“Having something that was going to be part of a mixed revenue model with earned income from a building was part of what we wanted to do if we were going to be an institution built to last,” Embrace Boston CEO Imari Paris Jeffries said today.
The ground floors and second level will be transformed into a civic center honoring abolitionist Frederick Douglass and function as an “indoor civic commons,” Embrace Boston announced.
The 35,000 square-foot connected buildings are 85 percent occupied on the upper floors by office tenants including nonprofits and professional services companies.
The building was constructed in 1899 and previously sold for $4.1 million in 2023, when it was acquired by a realty trust managed by Mai Luo. It contains 38,000 square feet of class B office space, and was 52-percent occupied in 2023.
“The previous owner did a great job of filling the building,” Jeffries said.
The long-vacant ground floor space will be available for occupancy shortly, but Embrace Boston plans to spend approximately $1 million on the buildout to create a new community and arts hub.
Embrace Boston also is continuing to look for an alternative location in Roxbury, Jeffries said.
Funding for the downtown acquisition included donations from Embrace’s board of directors, Sandy and Paul Edgerley, Katie and Paul Buttenwieser, and financing by Eastern Bank. Morrison Foerster and Goodwin Procter provided pro bono advisory services.
Image courtesy of Mass Design Group
