TA Hires Newmark to Sell 293,000-SF Totten Pond Office Park; Could Near $52M

WALTHAM—Barely four years after buying Totten Pond Office Park here off Route 128 at a consideration of $47 million, TA Associates Realty is offering the three-building, 293,000-sf complex for sale through Newmark Capital Markets, industry sources are indicating to Real Reporter. Pricing amidst the robust Route 128 Central office market could approach $53 million by some accounts, which would equate to about $180 per sf if achieved.

“It is out there,” one CRE professional acknowledges of the exclusive listing that reprises a role the same team led by Robert E. Griffin Jr. played in March 2013 when the current homegrown owners bought the park from Equus Capital, that Pennsylvania-based investor having held it since paying $45.1 million in August 2006. Another national player had held the asset that dates to 1970 prior to Equus, Crow Family Holdings of Dallas.

Newmark team leaders which include Vice-Chairman Edward C. Maher Jr. and Executive Managing Director Matthew E. Pullen did not respond to inquiries regarding the designation by TA Realty Informational materials obtained by Real Reporter describe a unique mix of solid cash flow from a diverse tenant roster of 45 organizations that has occupancy at 91 percent, both “institutional quality” aspects yet Totten Pond Office Park also possesses value-add aspects. Those would include having 28,000 sf available for immediate lease-up plus 30 percent of the leases are rolling over the next three years into a submarket averaging 17.6 percent higher rents than the in-place deals at the 15-acre campus of 400, 410 and 460 Totten Pond Office Park.

Perhaps due to its age, parts of which date to 1970, Totten Pond Office Park is characterized as Class B product, and some observers maintain that the better assets in that realm have become a coveted alternative for tenants in an area where first-class rents are highest in suburban New England. There has been 30 percent rent growth in that sector, according to Newmark research which also reports the submarket of 21.4 million sf has averaged 350,000 sf of positive net absorption for each of the past five years. The average asking rent for Class B in Route 128 Central is $30.18 per sf versus a $36.61 per sf average for Class A buildings, Newmark relays in its Q1 review.

One market observer familiar with TA Realty’s tenure at Totten Pond Office Park praises the stewardship for keeping occupancy above 90 percent. The asset was acquired as part of the firm’s Fund X that also bought other suburban product regionally including 111 Speen St. in Framingham and One Van De Graaff Dr. in Burlington.

Also participating in the newest Totten Pond sales assignment is Capital Markets Associate Director Samantha N. Hallowell while Executive Managing Director Mark Roth is providing office leasing guidance to prospects with debt information available from Executive Managing Director David Douvadjian and Senior Managing Director Brian Butler. The listing continues a busy launch to 2017 for the Newmark investment sales crew as detailed in the latest Real Reporter outlining more than $2.5 billion of industrial, office, residential and retail commitments and sales YTD.

Mark Roth

Samantha Howell

David Douvadjian