Boston Andes/CC&F Reap $68.5M from Trade of Luxury Quincy Apartments to TA Realty

QUINCY—One of metropolitan Boston’s newest apartment properties has a new owner in TA Realty following the $68.2 million purchase here of Deco, a 180-unit luxury project across from the MBTA’s Red Line, arguably among the hottest subway routes in the Northeast. A venture Boston Andes Capital with CC&F, Deco was made available for sale through Newmark Capital Markets at a time when transit-oriented development is being aggressively pursued by CRE capital thanks to superior fundamentals and limited inventory.

“That was clearly a selling point for (bidders), and I think it meant a lot to TA,” Newmark Executive Managing Director Michael T. Byrne tells therealreporter.com in acknowledging his firm’s role orchestrating the all-cash trade of a building at 0 Penn St. that was nearly 90 percent committed upon changing hands. Deco attracted broad interest during the marketing campaign, relays Byrne of a process where the homegrown investor persevered in a late-stage showdown among a few unnamed finalists, the result $270,000-per-key and a capitalization rate pegged in the taut 5 percent range.

“In the end, TA had the best terms and that is what put them on top and then they performed exactly as they said they would,” says Byrne who would not discuss specifics including the pricing outcome that is posted at the Norfolk County Registry of Deeds. Byrne leads the Newmark multifamily practice team which includes Associate Director Thomas Greeley and Associate Casey Griffin, a division working in conjunction with the Capital Markets team led by Robert E. Griffin Jr.

Albeit of a more modest scale than that preferred by many major institutional groups, observers following the Quincy competition agree Deco was well-received and maintain it is indicative of demand for modern multifamily product such as that delivered by CC&F affiliate, Zero Penn Development LLC. Although construction of such assets has ramped up substantially this decade, the trend is still new enough to keep investment opportunities difficult to identify, especially inside Route 128.

Totaling a hair under 160,000 sf, the Boston Andes/CC&F endeavor was completed on a 2.3-acre parcel bought in May 2014 at a consideration of $10.9 million by Zero Penn Street LLC and for which Newmark began pitching to investors last year. Besides being within walking distance of the Quincy Adams Red Line trolley that connects directly to downtown Quincy, Boston and Cambridge’s booming Kendall Square, Deco was also considered a rare chance to buy into a deal locally featuring 100 percent market-rate apartments. Newmark in peddling Deco pointed to the vast array of dining and shopping options nearby as well, noting in marketing materials that the sprawling South Shore Mall is barely five minutes away. For homebodies preferring to stay on site, Deco has a clubhouse on site, as well as a “great room” available to residents that offers state-of-the-art fitness facilities, multi-purpose rooms and a yoga studio, whereas the manicured grounds have barbeque grills, courtyards and a large pool.

“It is a great project,” Byrne says of Deco, praising his clients for creating an asset that TA Realty adds to a substantial portfolio of apartments owned as part of the firm’s diverse national platform. Principals of the company basedin downtown Boston did not return a phone call as of press deadline to discuss TA’s latest conquest.

Thomas Greeley

Casey Griffin

Michael Byrne