Eastdil Brokers $22.7 Million Washington Crossing to JPMorgan Chase

WOBURN, MA—More than a year after owner New Boston Fund first offered it up for sale, a four-building luxury multifamily complex near the juncture of Interstate 93 and Route 128 has been purchased by an affiliate of JPMorgan Chase, brokers negotiating the transaction have confirmed. The 205-unit Washington Crossing Apartments fetched $22.7 million, according to registry of deeds records.
Awarded the listing earlier this year after prior marketing efforts faltered, Eastdil Secured’s Capital Markets Group drummed up a variety of investors during the campaign, relays Eastdil broker Peter Joseph. Institutional funds, private buyers and a major real estate investment trust were among the suitors, explains Joseph, who declined to discuss pricing, runners-up or other details of the transaction. Efforts to contact NBF and JPMorgan by press deadline were unsuccessful.
Joseph did explain that Washington Crossing was treasured for its centralized location, quality construction and an impressive track record of occupancy. “It works on a lot of different levels,” says Joseph. Developed by Texas-based merchant builder JPI Inc., the asset was acquired by NBF in 2003. It was fully occupied at the time of the sale to JPMorgan, an entity which one source says is acquiring the property on behalf of a core investment fund. The investor is already a backer in the Fenway Triangle Trilogy luxury apartment complex in Boston’s Fenway District developed by Samuels Associates. “They like it a lot,” one source says of JPMorgan’s appetite for multifamily product.
A ground lease on the Woburn property has been considered a roadblock to prior sales efforts, but it appears bidders were able to work around that issue in the latest exercise. While not addressing that element specifically, Joseph notes that multifamily is “the preferred” property type at present for many investors, and a dearth of high-grade opportunities might have been one reason the ground lease was not a deal-breaker in the latest round.
Besides Joseph, other Eastdil Capital Markets team members working to get the Woburn assignment completed were Brian Barnett, Sarah Lagosh, James McCaffrey and Christopher Phaneuf. The Boston office of Eastdil has had a busy 2010 on the investment sales scene, including the pending sale of Waltham’s Bay Colony Corporate Center, a 58-acre business park that is about to trade for $185 million to Boston Properties