Bakey’s Sale Being Held in Boston as KGI Properties Hires C&W to Broker CBD Asset

BOSTON—A tiny but prominent sliver of real estate in the city’s Financial District is on the sales block, as KGI Properties Inc. has retained Cushman & Wakefield to market 45 Broad St. Best known to locals as the longtime home of Bakey’s Restaurant in its first-floor retail space, the four-story, 11,000-sf commercial property is reportedly being offered minus an asking price.

“It’s a really dynamic boutique building,” one market watcher tells The Real Reporter in acknowledging the asset is actively being peddled and predicting a robust reception from the investment community. Principals at Providence, RI-based KGI Properties and members of C&W’s Middle Markets Group did not respond to inquiries by press deadline, but materials being circulated indicate the marketing is already engaged. The assignment is being handled by a C&W team led by Robert E. Griffin Jr. and including Executive Director Biria St. John, Senior Director David J. Pergola and Director Brian R. Doherty.

A multifamily expert, St. John’s presence suggests 45 Broad St. could be pitched as a residential play, notes one observer who also portends users are another likely target. “It fits great” for any company seeking to control its destiny in a visible location, opines that broker. Heretofore, the upper levels had been occupied as office space, but they are presently empty. Whereas the lack of cash flow there might be daunting to some in the currently depressed office market, 45 Broad St. is of a modest enough size to meet the criteria of bite-sized buyers, of which there is a substantial pool. “Everybody” is how one Boston CRE professional describes the constituency expected to be stirred to take a gander at 45 Broad St. That fervor could push pricing in excess of $2 million, estimates the source. One question is whether the Irish funds that have previously been attracted to so-called jewel box buildings have recovered enough from the country’s capital crisis to pursue the opportunity, but similar Boston properties coming available in the past year have received plenty of attention despite the Irish pullback.

Located on just over 26,000 sf, the property is technically two buildings, 45 Broad St. and 119-121 Water St. They were constructed between 1876 and 1878, just after the Great Boston Fire of 1872 that destroyed much of the city’s downtown. The average floorplate is 2,745 sf, and there are windows on two sides. The red-brick façade offers a striking presence on Broad Street, itself one of New England’s first so-called planned streets whose expansive width is unique in a district dominated by small, incongruent thoroughfares. In recognition of Broad Street’s legacy, city planning officials have concentrated substantial sums in recent years to improve the streetscape. It is also one street over from the Rose Kennedy Greenway.