CAMBRIDGE, MA—A prominent 65,000-sf office/retail building has changed hands for $18.9 million. Owned for the past decade by Paradigm Properties, 1030 Massachusetts Ave. is located on the edge of Harvard Square in the city’s tight mid-Cambridge district.
Calls to Paradigm principals were not returned by press deadline, while efforts to contact the buyers were also unsuccessful. Documents secured by therealreporter.com indicate a group of West Coast investors has acquired the four-story, 24-year-old property through HCP/LFREP Ventures LLC, a recently formed operation bearing an address in Long Beach, California.
Owners of more than a half-dozen Massachusetts CRE assets as part of a six-state portfolio extending from New England to Ohio, Paradigm Properties paid $17 million for 1030 Massachusetts Ave. nine years ago next week, and has since managed to keep occupancy steady by accommodating a diverse tenant base. Features include a two-story atrium and two levels of underground parking, plus on-site management and retail space.
Mid-Cambridge benefits from demand generated by academic institutions, government agencies and professional services firms such as KingStubbins, a globally renowned architect and longtime denizen of 1030 Massachusetts Ave.
With limited supply of 2.1 million sf as estimated by FHO Partners, the mid-Cambridge office market had a vacancy rate of 8.1 percent as of Q3 2010 versus 13.0 percent for the city overall, an inventory encompassing 10.0 million sf in three districts surveyed by the Boston-based real estate services firm. Class A product in mid-Cambridge has seen 28,000 sf in negative net absorption thus far in 2010, hiking the vacancy rate for 1.15 million sf from 5.5 percent to 8.4 percent. Market watchers spoken to could not say what 1030 Massachusetts Ave.’s occupancy was at the time of the sale.
By Joe Clements
The Real Reporter