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Columbia Property Trust is the latest institutional investor to bet on the growth of Somerville’s Boynton Yards.

The New York-based investor paid $34.7 million for a cluster of industrial parcels spanning 1.05 acres near the future Union Square station on the MBTA Green Line Extension. The acquisitions were made by Columbia Property Trust’s Opportunity Zone Fund.

The transactions which closed Sept. 9 include five industrial properties at 6 Beach Ave., 495 and 513 Columbia St. and 64 and 68 Webster Ave., including auto repair shops and development parcels. Salem, New Hampshire-based Bank of New England provided $24 million in mortgage financing.

The pending transit upgrades and potential for growth of office and lab space has attracted national developers to the neighborhood, which is adjacent to the Union Square Revitalization Area being master-developed by US2. A city planning study released in 2016 estimated that Boynton Yards could support 3.6 million square feet of new development generating more than 7,500 jobs.

Leggat McCall Properties and DLJ Real Estate Capital Partners are constructing a 289,000-square-foot office-lab building at 101 South St. in the first phase of a larger proposed 1.1-million square foot development spanning 6 acres, which is under review by Somerville officials.

Columbia has a 7-million-square-foot portfolio at 15 properties, including 116 Huntington Ave. in Boston, along with four development sites.

Editor’s note: This article has been updated to correct the Columbia Property Trust entity that acquired the Boynton Yards parcels and the address of Columbia’s Huntington Ave. property.

Columbia Fund Buys Somerville Development Parcels for $34.7M

by Steve Adams time to read: 1 min
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