Tuesday, May 30, 2017

$79 million sale of 50 Congress Street in Boston closed by HFF


50 Congress Street, Lobby, Downtown Boston, MA

BOSTON, MA, May 30, 2017 – Holliday Fenoglio Fowler, L.P. (HFF) announced today that it has closed the $79 million sale of 50 Congress Street, a 179,872-square-foot office building occupying an entire city block in the heart of Boston’s bustling downtown.

Lauren O'Neil

HFF arranged the sale of the property on behalf of the seller, an affiliate of KBS Capital Advisors, and procured the buyer, a joint venture arranged between Jumbo Capital Management and Guggenheim Real Estate.

Coleman Benedict
Originally designed by renowned architect Andrews, Jaques & Rantoul as the headquarters for State Mutual Life Insurance, the building was constructed in two phases between 1910 and 1915.  

Today, it is 90 percent leased to over 60 tenants and features a vibrant first-floor retail component.  The tenant roster includes a mix of law firm, retail, private equity and financial services tenants, with 20 percent of the tenants having been in occupancy for more than 12 years.

“Jumbo Capital is excited to bring the success it has had with revitalizing over two million square feet of suburban assets to the downtown Boston market,” said Jay Hirsh, managing partner of Jumbo Capital Management. “50 Congress Street provides an excellent canvas to create an upscale and inviting feel while restoring many of the historic features of the property”.
  
“Downtown Boston is one of the strongest office markets in the United States with a vacancy rate that continues to remain very low and rents that are on the rise,” said Ben Sayles, director at HFF.  

“Being located just steps from Post Office Square and directly across from the future headquarters of Digitas/Publicis Groupe at Congress Square, 50 Congress Street occupies an irreplaceable position within the urban core.”

Ben Sayles
The HFF investment sales team representing the seller was led by Coleman Benedict, Christopher Phaneuf and Ben Sayles.

Along with the sale, HFF has also been retained by the buyer to secure acquisition financing, which is being led by Lauren O’Neil.

 Founded by Peter Bren and Charles J. Schreiber Jr. in 1992, KBS is one of the nation's preeminent buyers of commercial real estate and structured debt investments. 

In August 2014, KBS was ranked by Institutional Real Estate, Inc. and Property Funds Research as among the top real estate investment managers globally, and in December 2016, National Real Estate Investor ranked KBS the ninth-largest office owner globally. 

KBS has a strong reputation in the industry for efficient and timely closing on large and complex transactions in the office, industrial, multifamily and retail sectors. KBS also originates and acquires debt positions collateralized by stabilized and value-added properties.

KBS Realty Advisors has created six institutional commingled funds, 14 separate accounts with public and corporate pension funds and five sovereign wealth funds. KBS Capital Advisors was formed in 2006 as the exclusive advisor for KBS' publicly registered non-traded REITs, which are designed to give individual investors the ability to invest in a similar type of real estate as KBS pension fund and institutional partners.

 Jumbo Capital Management, LLC (“Jumbo Capital”) is a privately held, value focused, commercial real estate investment firm located in Quincy, MA. The firm was founded in 2009 by Jay Hirsh, who left Boston-based New Boston Fund, Inc. to pursue investment opportunities brought about by the “great recession”. 

Christopher Phaneuf
Jumbo has since grown to over 30 employees with leadership having a combined 80+ years of commercial real estate experience. Jumbo Capital invests in all property types and focuses on a range of transactions from $5-$300 million. Currently, the firm manages over 3 million square feet of commercial real estate in the Greater Boston area.

 Guggenheim Real Estate, a division of Guggenheim Partners, was formed in 2002 and manages approximately $1.5 billion of client assets invested across a wide spectrum of U.S. commercial real estate. GRE’s direct property investments include 9.1 million square feet of office, industrial, retail and multi-family property throughout the United States.

Guggenheim Partners is a global investment and advisory firm with more than $260 billion in assets under management and over 2,300 employees based in more than 25 offices around the world.

For a complete copy of the company’s news release, please contact:

Kristen M. Murphy
Director, Public Relations
HFF | One Post Office Square, Suite 3500 | Boston, MA 02109
Main: 617-338-0990 | Direct: 617-848-1572 | Cell: 617-543-4873 | www.hfflp.com

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