At its annual awards ceremony last week, the Commercial Brokers Association honored the $122 million sale of 501 Boylston St. in Boston’s Back Bay as the top investment transaction of 2002.
It might not have turned out quite the way they expected, but Meredith & Grew came away with a strong showing at last week’s Commercial Brokers Association Awards, with the venerable Hub real estate firm scoring honors for Boston’s biggest office deal of 2002 and the CBA’s top retail deal, and also landing the Broker of the Year via the association’s naming of M&G mainstay James L. Elcock.
“It was a total surprise,” Elcock told Banker & Tradesman afterward. “I was stunned.” Elcock’s peers, who voted for the designation, were not surprised. Several later seconded the wisdom of the selection, which is based on both civic and professional accomplishments. “It’s very deserving,” said Codman Co. principal and former M&G colleague Robert B. Cleary Jr. “He’s really a wonderful guy who has earned a lot of respect in the industry.”
Many who attended the event at Boston’s original Ritz Carlton were caught off guard by M&G’s exclusion in the Investment Sale of the Year award, given that the firm did broker last summer’s $500 million multifamily deal between the Flatley Co. and a Denver real estate investment trust. Price-wise, nothing came close locally to the disposition of Flatley’s 4,300-unit apartment portfolio, but the CBA instead listed the $122 million sale of 501 Boylston St. in Boston’s Back Bay as the top investment transaction of 2002. That deal was brokered by Donald Hause and John F. Hennessey of GVA Thompson Doyle Hennessey & Stevens, as well as Richard B. Putprush of Grubb & Ellis.
Calls to CBA President James F. Nicoletti were not returned by press deadline, but observers said they believe the complexity of the 501 Boylston St. sale and the professional acumen needed in structuring the agreement played a role in that decision. Not only did GVA Thompson Doyle bring the buyer to the table, it offered Beacon Capital Partners a potential tenant to help make the Hub-based firm comfortable about taking on the property. According to the CBA awards program supplement, the deal also reflected two recent trends in real estate, those being unsolicited offers to purchase a property that was never officially on the market, and having corporate owners of real estate take advantage of the current clamor among investors for stable property by agreeing to sell their assets. Among other things, the 501 Boylston St. negotiations included a five-year leaseback for the seller, MetLife.
“I think they realized this was a very creative sale,” Hennessey said following the selection. “We really created the deal, and I think that was recognized.”
‘Very Humbling’
M&G was honored for the Flatley sale in one respect, with President Thomas J. Hynes Jr. and Thomas D. Robinson Jr. named among the Top Producers of Investment and Property Sales for the year, largely as a result of the landmark multifamily deal. Also in the top five were Hause, as well as Michael G. Smith and Jeffrey B. Swartz of Spaulding & Slye Colliers, both of whom brokered the blockbuster sale of Boston’s One Boston Place office tower last summer.
Another M&G principal, downtown leasing specialist Ronald K. Perry, was feted for the Office Deal of the Year for Boston. Perry represented Mellon Financial in the restructuring of several leases at One Boston Place that resulted in the financial services firm committing to 361,000 square feet at the tower, or 40 percent of the building. That leasing initiative was seen as critical in stabilizing the property to clear the way for its sale to Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association. The intricate deal was also a coup for CB Richard Ellis/Whittier Partners, which represented the landlord in the negotiations. CB/Whittier’s Andrew W. Hoar and Andrew J. Maher joined Perry in winning the premier leasing award for the year.
Meanwhile, M&G brokers Patrick J. Paladino Jr. and Theodore J. Chryssicas culminated a prolonged effort to market a 15-acre Acton farm for the owners with their selection for the CBA’s Retail Deal of the Year. The pair assisted the owners through a complex campaign that lasted five years and resulted in the recent opening of the Brookside Shops/Lifestyle Retail Center along Route 2A. The undertaking required a five-year marketing and permitting process complicated by some unique requests by the owners, but still resulted in a sales price double that of previous estimates.
In other results, Equity Office Properties was selected as Landlord of the Year, while downtown leasing broker Kevin Kennedy of Insignia/ESG was tabbed as Rookie of the Year. The Top Five Producers in Office Brokerage were Mary L. Lentz and James A. Canfield of McCall & Almy, Stephen D. Lynch of Insignia/ESG, David E. Fitzgerald of CB/Whittier and Debra J. Gould of Spaulding & Slye Colliers. In the retail brokerage category, the top five producers were John T. McDonough of Grubb & Ellis, Paladino, Mark S. Browne of Browne Realty Advisors, Paul Stanislas of Grubb & Ellis and Patrick A. Cavanagh of Insignia/ESG.
On the industrial front, Robert D. Gibson Jr. of CB/Whittier headlined the top five producers, followed by Richard J. Ruggiero of Cushman & Wakefield, CB/Whittier’s David Connolly, Arthur M. Agnew III of Insignia/ESG and GVA Thompson Doyle Hennessey & Stevens principal Mark A. Stevens.
Besides Ruggiero’s listing in the industrial category, Cushman & Wakefield had several other victories at the CBA awards, including its selection for the Suburban Office Deal of the Year and Catherine Minnerly for the Industrial Deal of the Year. Minnerly was with NAI Hunneman Commercial Co. last year when she completed an intricate negotiation to relocate New England Pottery to the Myles Standish Industrial Park in Taunton. According to the CBA program, Minnerly was recognized for not only a 12-year relationship serving New England Pottery’s real estate needs, but also the extensive effort to complete the Taunton transaction, which included an 11-acre land sale, a turnkey agreement with the developers and a long-term lease.
The suburban office deal of the year was accomplished between Cushman & Wakefield and Stephen Lynch of Insignia/ESG, who represented the landlord. C&W had worked with European pharmaceutical giant Novartis AG in a search across the United States for a new research facility. The effort ended last summer when Novartis subleased 42,000 square feet at 400 Technology Square and another 255,000 at 100 Technology Square, both in Cambridge. Mark Roth, Mark Winters and David Townsend of C&W acted on behalf of Novartis, which also later leased another 500,000 square feet at the former Necco candy factory in Cambridge.
Winters said last week he believed the CBA was impressed with the Novartis lease given the significance of the pharmaceutical company to the Bay State, as well as its importance to the struggling commercial real estate market in Cambridge. Novartis was clearly the largest boost to the market in 2002, with Winters citing the region’s life sciences talent as a key reason Novartis opted for Cambridge.
Overall, Winters praised Nicoletti for providing a relaxed atmosphere at the awards, and also joined others in congratulating Elcock for his selection as the leading broker of 2002. While the winner was unaware of the situation, the CBA invited Elcock’s wife, Kathleen, as well as his parents to the event. The award recognized Elcock for nearly 20 years at Meredith & Grew, during which time the Providence College alum has leased more than four million square feet of space and completed some 360 tenant representation deals for companies such as Lightbridge, Oak Industries and Boston Gas.
Elcock was also cited as a devoted father of two children, an active athlete and a member of several civic and municipal endeavors. Elcock deflected much of the attention to others, including colleague David Pergola Jr., who is currently serving in the Armed Forces as part of Iraqi Freedom. Pergola’s contributions were also recognized at the ceremony. As for Broker of the Year, Elcock said he was most taken by being voted on by his peers, with other CBA members casting ballots for the selection.
“It was very humbling,” Elcock said. “I feel very fortunate to work with such a great company and in an industry that is filled with such wonderful people … It’s a great honor.”
