The New Boston Fund Inc., the private real estate fund headed by Jerry Rappaport Jr., continues to expand its holdings.
New Boston recently acquired a portfolio of five properties in suburban Boston from Principal Financial Group.
The Boston-based real estate investment company bought the 325,000-square-foot portfolio of office properties for $28.3 million earlier this month.
Properties in the portfolio are: Strawberry Hill in Acton; Four Preston Court in Bedford; 233 Needham St. in Needham; 6 Campanelli Drive in Andover; and 300 Billerica Road in Chelmsford. New Boston is also expanding across New England as well, having recently completed deals for office properties in New Hampshire and Connecticut.
Cushman & Wakefield, a national commercial real estate firm with a Boston office, represented the seller, Principal Financial Group, and rounded up the buyer (New Boston) through the firm's financial services group. During 1998, New Boston bought nine buildings in deals brokered by Cushman & Wakefield.
Cushman & Wakefield's financial services group includes senior director Peter Joseph, Jim Belli, director, and Christopher Phaneuf.
Flatley sells 3 nursing homes
Developer Thomas Flatley recently sold off a small chunk of his sprawling real estate empire.
Flatley, who owns hundreds of millions of dollars worth of office and hotel properties, recently inked deals to sell off three nursing homes.
Flatley sold a nursing home in Milton at 1200 Brush Hill Road for $12.6 million to First Security Bank Trust; a nursing home at 305 Walpole St. for $9.9 million to Centennial Real Estate Trust; and a nursing home at 975 North Main St. in Randolph for $10.9 million, also to Centennial Real Estate Trust.
Spaulding & Slye hires execs
Boston-based commercial real estate firm Spaulding & Slye recently hired two new top executives.
Spaulding & Slye hired away Walter Mercer from Fleet Financial Group and Darryl Asack from the Boston office of the investment division of GE Capital Investment Advisors.
Mercer will help direct Spaulding & Slye's capital markets group as senior vice president, helping structure financing packages for corporate clients. Mercer was executive vice president of commercial real estate at Fleet, the largest bank in New England.
Asack, the former GE Capital executive, has joined Spaulding & Slye as a vice president in the capital markets group. Asack will focus on commercial real estate sales. At GE Capital, Asack worked with pension funds on the acquisition of office, research, warehouse and multifamily properties throughout the Northeast and the mid-Atlantic states.
Margulies & Associates Inc. completes interior design
Boston-based Margulies & Associates Inc., an architectural, interior design and facilities planning firm, recently completed the interior design of a new, 2,500-square-foot USTrust branch at Cronin's Landing, a new 281-unit residential complex in Waltham.
"It's is the first retail space to be filled at Cronin's Landing," said Marc Margulies, principal and founder of Margulies & Associates.
CB Richard Ellis/Whittier assists Phylos in lease deal
CB Richard Ellis/Whittier Partners' Daniel Cordeau represented biotech firm Phylos Inc. in the lease of 19,000 square feet at the Ledgemont Center at 128 Spring St. in Lexington.
The building is owned by The Beal Cos. in Boston.
In another transaction brokered by CB Richard Ellis/Whittier Partners, a national firm with an office in Boston, a software firm called Synapix leased 23,008 square feet of space at a renovated mill building in Lowell at 650 Suffolk St. Making the deal were John Power, senior vice president and partner, and Michael Keyes, an associate.
Deals, deals and more deals
Carol Ann Oliver, senior broker for Peter Elliot LLC, recently represented ECG Partnership in the acquisition of 72 Cedar Hill St. in Marlborough. ECG paid more than $1 million for the property, a 20,000-square-foot industrial building on 1.2 acres of land. Eric O'Brien represented the seller of the building, ATK Realty.
For its part, Peter Elliot LLC is a full- service commercial real estate firm based in Boston.
In another transaction, Kevin Malloy, a principal at Peter Elliot, recently brokered the sale of Apple Valley Estates in Smithfield, R.I.
Robert Bengloff Associates of Chestnut Hill paid $1.6 million for the 29-unit condominium complex. Malloy represented both the buyer and the seller, Anthony DeLuca of the Providence-based Koffler Group.
Tweeter buys Canton office property for $3.9 million
Tweeter Home Entertainment Group Inc. recently bought an 82,350-square-foot industrial and office building in Canton at 10 Pequot Lane for $3.9 million.
Ten Pequot is a block and steel building divided between 67,350 square feet of industrial space and 15,000 square feet of office space. There is also another 100,000 square feet of buildable space on the lot, which is near Route 128.
Tweeter plans to use the newly acquired building at its new headquarters and plans to make extensive improvements.
Cathy Minnerly Keane and Will Adams of Hunneman Commercial Co. in Boston represented the seller while James Nicolletti and Steven Clancy of Lynch Murphy Walsh and Partners in Boston represented the buyer.
SCOTT VAN VOORHIS, real estate reporter for the Boston Business Journal, can be reached at SVanVoorhis@amcity.com.