In $12.9M Deal Brokered by Eastdil, Maric Secures Waltham Office Asset With $10M Cambridge Savings

WALTHAM—Maric Inc.’s pursuit of commercial real estate in suburban Boston continued this week when the homegrown real estate firm followed up on last month’s $9 million purchase of 254 Second Ave. in Needham by acquiring 400 Fifth Ave. in Waltham for a tidy $12.9 million.006 for $13.4 million by Normandy Real Estate Partners and financed via a $16.6 million loan, 400 Fifth Ave. was taken back this spring by Wells Fargo Bank after the Waltham market falteredWells Fargo subsequently hired Eastdil Secured to market 400 Fifth Ave., with Needham-based Maric ultimately winning out. “We’re excited about it,” Maric principal Mark H. Rubin tells The Real Reporter in confirming the purchase. Relaying Eastdil broker Peter Joseph’s phrase of being “a workhorse building,” Rubin says he anticipates 400 Fifth Ave. will lure tenants in the 5,000- to 10,000-sf range, although the entire top floor could accommodate a 20,000-sf requirement. “We look forward to completing the lease-up program,” Rubin says of a property that was 60 percent committed upon changing hands.

Rubin says the Grubb & Ellis brokerage team of Mark Coelho, Steve Cook and Jack Kerrigan has generated substantial interest as leasing agents before and during the asset’s transition. With one letter of intent and another deal currently in the works, Rubin intends to keep that leasing trio in place. “If it isn’t broken, why try to fix it?” he relays. “They have done a really nice job there.”

Rubin is further encouraged by extensive upgrades to 400 Fifth Ave.’s lobby and other areas by the prior landlord. An experienced owner and operator in Greater Boston, Rubin says he is “thankful about putting a pin on the map in Waltham,” which continues to be the market leader and is, he maintains, poised for a rebound, relaying that, “I like what I’m seeing.”

The sales process that began in mid-summer proceeded smoothly, says Rubin, commending the Eastdil team that includes Sarah Lagosh, James McCaffrey, Christopher Phaneuf and Brian Barnett. Eastdil also arranged the $10 million financing from Cambridge Savings Bank. Eastdil had the CSB team in early to make the group comfortable with the deal, says Rubin. “We shopped it around and they had the best terms,” he says, adding that CSB’s loan officers that included SVP Michael Lindgren and Daryl Smith “were great to work with.”

Joseph declined to discuss specifics of the 400 Fifth Ave. sale, but confirms the search effort generated 20 bids, with local investors especially interested. Joseph was unable to discuss Eastdil’s other big Waltham listing, the pending sale of Bay Colony Corporate Center. As revealed this week by therealreporter.com, Boston Properties and Beacon Capital Partners have been chasing that 58-acre, 980,000-sf corporate campus now owned by Prudential Financial. Negotiations are still continuing, sources say, with no signed contract in place as of press deadline. As the previous story relayed, Hines Interests of Texas has been another a serious contender for the park that Boston Properties reportedly made the highest offer on of $185 million.