The University Office Park in Waltham, which includes 95 Sawyer Road, reportedly is on the verge of being sold for the second time in just over two years.
For the second time in just over two years, the University Office Park in Waltham is about to change hands, according to industry sources who maintain that NPV Direct Invest has agreed to purchase the two-building asset from current owner Transwestern Investment Co.
Sources could not say exactly how much NPV Direct Invest has agreed to pay, but the Waltham office market has improved dramatically since Transwestern shelled out $22.5 million for the buildings in the spring of 2004, and one source speculated the figure will be in the $25 million to $30 million range. The current sale is being brokered by Elizabeth Thomas of Cushman & Wakefield of Massachusetts, who also negotiated the transaction when Transwestern purchased the buildings. At the time, Thomas was a broker with CBRE/New England, working alongside CBRE/New England principal Philip Giunta on behalf of the previous owners, Cornerstone Real Estate Advisors.
CBRE/New England is still the listing agent for the park, which has seen substantial leasing under Transwestern’s stewardship. Presently, there is just over 10,000 square feet available total in the two buildings. Located near Brandeis University, Two and Three University Office Park also have an address of 51 Sawyer Road for Two University Office Park and 95 Sawyer Road for Three University Office Park.
Citing confidentiality agreements, Thomas declined to discuss the sale, telling Banker & Tradesman last week she was “not in a position to say anything about University Office Park.” Efforts to contact officials at Chicago-based Transwestern and NPV Direct Invest were unsuccessful by press deadline. Nonetheless, sources insisted that the latter firm has indeed agreed to purchase the buildings. It is unclear whether a purchase-and-sale agreement has been completed or if a non-refundable deposit has been submitted, but one source characterized the situation as being “very far along” in the process.
“I’d be surprised [if the sale did not go through],” added the source, although NPV Direct Invest earlier this year pulled back on the purchase of a two-building office asset in Wilmington in the late stages of negotiations. That property, 181 and 187 Ballardvale St., is supposedly now about to be acquired by Griffith Properties, the owners of the nearby 200 Ballardvale.
Surging Market
Now celebrating its 10th year in business, Transwestern’s first equity deal in Massachusetts was the University Park asset, but the firm has become increasingly active in the region since that original venture, particularly during the past six months. After buying Brickstone Square in Andover last November, paying $77.5 million for that 1 million-square-foot office complex north of Boston, Transwestern scooped up 313 Washington St. in Newton Corner for $12.6 million late in 2005 and then opened this year with its acquisition of 40 Broad St. in downtown Boston.
In a recent release regarding its real estate strategy going forward, Transwestern indicated continued interest in being a buyer of various product types, including office, industrial and retail properties. To support that program the company just launched an $800 million investment vehicle. Presently, the company has invested in more than 375 properties throughout the country totaling $6.7 billion in value. The existing portfolio includes 63 office properties, 12 industrial assets and seven retail centers, as well as 5,000 apartment units. It has also made 22 mezzanine loan investments.
While Thomas would not comment on the seller’s motivations, the pending disposition of the University Office Park suggests an effort by Transwestern to take advantage of the white-hot climate still in existence for investment grade real estate in Massachusetts, especially for the rapidly improving central Route 128 submarket anchored by Waltham. Hit heavily by the technology crash which enveloped New England in 2001, Waltham saw its vacancy rate skyrocket into the mid-20 percent range before suddenly mounting a comeback in the past 18 months, a rebound evidenced by a direct vacancy rate approaching 10 percent at the end of the first quarter of 2006, according to figures compiled by Spaulding & Slye.
The surging office market has prompted a slew of commercial real estate sales in Waltham during the past year, with acquisitions recently made there by such players as Boston Properties, Broadway Partners and Normandy Real Estate Partners. The improving economy and a belief in the long-term health of the submarket is also leading to talk of speculative construction for Waltham, a plan infused by several major leases completed in recent months. Along with several leases signed at Reservoir Woods in Waltham, Banker & Tradesman reported last week that VistaPrint Inc. is angling to take approximately 165,000 square feet at Ledgemont Center in Lexington, space being vacated by the pending departure of longtime tenant Fresenius Medical Care Corp., which is also heading to Reservoir Woods, a former Polaroid Corp. campus along Route 128.
