Hub Multifamily Trade Reaps $562,500 Per Unit

BOSTON — A multifamily gem—architecturally and financially—has changed hands here in a $4.5 million sale negotiated by Boston Realty Advisors that equates to an impressive $562,500 per unit. Buyer Monaf Alyassi was represented by Dennis Kelleher of Marcus & Millichap, with BRA’s multifamily investment sales team of Christopher D. Sower and Jason S. Weissman the exclusive listing agents for 16 River Street LLC, an entity managed by Paul Camaratta and Jeffrey R. Rand. Dedham Institution for Savings provided the buyer a $1.88 million mortgage.

The sellers had paid $2.5 million for 16 River St. in Jan. 2013, making for an eye-popping flip barely one year later of the eight-unit asset. Having his multifamily team tender $127 million in transactions last year with a concentration on urban hotspots Beacon Hill, Back Bay, Brookline and Harvard Square, the stiff competition generated for 16 River St. was of no great surprise to Sower. “It’s a fantastic property and one of the few apartment buildings left on the flat of Beacon Hill,” he offers, and is in a residential market as tight as any in the country. Sower could not say whether the new owner has a condominium play in mind, but observes that apartments are getting so inflated more tenants may opt to buy versus rent, potentially increasing the conversion strategy he says is beginning to return.

In any event, the River Street structure that is squeezed onto an 1,190-sf parcel appears well-positioned in either direction it may head of being kept as rentals or offered for sale. Units have sight lines in three directions, explains Sower, one of them to the bucolic Boston Public Garden a few blocks south. For those preferring a less-serene scene, there is the teeming Charles Street one block away that features a gauntlet of local shops and restaurants plus established retailers such as CVS Pharmacy, Starbucks and Whole Foods Market. “It’s an irreplaceable location,” says Sower, while Weissman characterizes the listing as “a special opportunity” to harvest the coveted building which dates to 1910 and has a footprint of 4,675 sf. Prior to last year’s exchange, 16 River St. had been held by the same family since July 1956.