Cambridge Savings Bank Lends Hand in Campanelli Milestone

QUINCY — Campanelli has again brought its textbook value-add strategy to a logical conclusion in the signing of Cambridge Savings Bank to a 2,600- square-foot lease at 300 Crown Colony in Quincy, a commitment that puts the first-class office property at 100 percent occupancy. CSB is using the property for its inaugural South Shore residential mortgage lending office. Dating to 1987, the 118,000-sf building was 73 percent leased when acquired in Jan. 2010 for a bargain-basement $8.9 million at a time when Boston’s South Shore was still reeling from the 2008 recession. Its prior sale in Oct. 1997 had been for $16.3 million.

Besides making needed upgrades to the property with Campanelli’s own design and construction team, the firm whose local roots date to 1947 retained the Colliers International suburban contingent of James L. Elcock, David Goodhue and Caleb Hudak to find takers for the space that prices on the upper scale of the submarket. Working with Campanelli principal Steven Murphy, the exclusive leading group has since completed more than 43,000 sf in lease transactions to bring the property to capacity—and done so in a market dogged by a vacancy rate north of 20 percent for years.

“Campanelli is the one that really deserves the credit,” Elcock conveys this week to the Real Reporter. “The market is still very much a tenant’s market, and one where tenants have lots of choices. There are probably six or eight buildings that get shown on every tour that could accommodate anywhere from 2,500 sf up to 50,000 sf, but in this case, the improvements that Campanelli did to the building— infrastructure, cosmetic upgrades, renovating the cafeteria, adding an onsite manager, plus the amenities— make Crown Colony, pound for pound, probably the best office park south of the city.”

Campanelli picked up the property for well below replacement as part of a buying spree among a string of value add deals that have paid off handsomely. In September 2010, Campanelli also acquired the 473,000-sf GS portfolio, nine flex buildings in the Route 128 North market; and in a separate deal, the 101,000-sf 30 Perwal St. in Westwood. After selling off two of the GS buildings, Campanelli has leased about 250,000 sf of the remaining space to date, and Steward Health Care was signed to a long-term lease at 30 Perwal St.—two months after acquisition. The asset last year was traded to the Bulfinch Cos.

For Campanelli, having Cambridge Savings Bank join a half-dozen other new firms lured to the Quincy property during Campanelli’s tenure is a fitting way to wrap up the leasing campaign. “We have enjoyed banking with CSB for decades, and are proud to add them as our newest tenant at 300 Crown Colony,” says Murphy. The full-service financial institution has been on a steady growth mode this decade, and now has 16 banking centers from Acton to its hometown of Cambridge.

Located in the Crown Colony Park at the confluence of Routes 3 and 128 with Interstate 93, 300 Crown Colony boasts 25,000-sf floor plates and a dramatic five-story atrium. Among the capital improvements made by Campanelli are a newly designed conference facility and Café 300, a full-service café and corporate caterer.