Photo courtesy of Hudson Assembly
The latest partnership between the developers who bought the former Barnes & Noble property in Downtown Crossing is the acquisition of a 151,163-square-foot office building in the Financial District.
Hudson Group’s Noam Ron and Assembly Investments’ Evan Papanastasiou acquired 230 Congress St., an office, retail and telecommunications building located a block from the Rose Kennedy Greenway.
The purchase price was $23.7 million, according to a Suffolk County deed, representing a 69 percent decrease from the previous transaction. Denver-based Northwood Investors paid $77 million for the property in 2015.
Time Equities Inc. of New York was the capital partner on the deal. The building is 76 percent occupied, Ron said in an email.
Completed in 1931, the 12-story Art Deco-style building was designed by Ralph Thomas Walker, a president of the American Institute of Architects known for his designs of Art Deco telecommunications buildings in New York.
The Boston property has a long history of stable cash flow and long-term tenants in the office, telecom and retail sectors, the new owners said in a press release. They plan to renovate the lobby and update the exterior and tenant amenities.
Hudson Assembly completed a post-closing financing package including a commercial mortgage provided by Institution for Savings with initial loan proceeds of $14.2 million, which will be used to capital improvements and targeted enhancements of common areas and tenant amenities.
Time Equities Director of Portfolio Strategy Zach Alerhand sourced the loan.
“This building has been a quiet cornerstone of the Financial District for nearly a century, and we see a significant runway ahead for it,” Ron said in a statement. “The increased activity at this intersection of the Post Office Square, Greenway, and South Station submarkets coupled with a reset acquisition basis will allow 230 Congress to attract and retain the type of tenants that this neighborhood is increasingly drawing.”
Last year, Ron and Papanastasiou partnered on the acquisition of 401 Washington St. in Downtown Crossing, the long-vacant former Barnes & Noble store. In October, the new owners secured Japanese apparel chain Uniqlo as the property’s new anchor tenant. The store opened in April.
