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Commercial Real Estate News and Property Resource

Monday, August 13, 2007

Newbury Street CRE Sales Crest $100M

By Joe Clements

BOSTON -Shopping is the thing to do on Boston’s Newbury Street, and not just for moneyed consumers, as evidenced by a series of commercial real estate sales along the famous retailing Mecca. More than $100 million of CRE assets have now changed hands this year within a strip of less than one mile, a buying spree led by Irish investors enamored by the opportunities.

The newest crop of transactions include last week’s $9.5 million purchase of 123 Newbury St. and a $7.6 million deal for 160 Newbury St. one block away, with the buyers of both properties each backed by Dublin-based Anglo-Irish Bank. The buyer of 123 Newbury St., Abbey Road Advisors of Westport, CT, says the thoroughfare carries a cache recognized in Ireland, one compared to the High Street retailing area in the UK.

“That’s where all the shopping gets done, and that’s what they consider Newbury Street to be,” Abbey Road principal Alan Bates offers to GlobeSt.com as one of the reasons behind the Irish ardor. “There is great traffic and all kinds of (internationally known retailers), and that builds a lot of confidence in investors.” A Paris-based perfume shop, Diptyque, is a tenant of 123 Newbury St., for example. And even as thin as yields have been for New England retail, the returns are still ahead of that found in Ireland and Europe as a whole, say observers. The weak dollar is providing an extra level of incentive for securing US real estate, they add.

According to Bates, Abbey Road Advisors has been scouting out deals on Newbury Street, finally landing 123 Newbury St. thanks to assistance from broker Sam Hawkey. The Dartmouth Co. professional “did a great job for us,” says Bates. “We are really happy to have gotten it,” he says of the asset, which is located between Clarendon and Dartmouth Sts. in the pricier end of Newbury St. The deal also marks the return of Abbey Road into Boston after a brief departure following the sale in March of its lone local property, the nearby 389 Boylston St. office building. Bates says the firm is hoping to secure additional product in Massachusetts.

The buyer of 160 Newbury St., Taurus Investment Holdings, has now snatched up more than a half-dozen properties on the street this year, and reportedly has several more in its sights. Taurus is backed by Anglo-Irish, which has embraced retail locally, having most significantly bought into the 200 State St. retail adjacent to Faneuil Hall Marketplace, Boston ’s other retailing heavyweight. Efforts to contact Taurus officials regarding the latest deal were unsuccessful. Other buildings Taurus and Anglo-Irish have secured on Newbury St. or addresses abutting the stretch include 283 Dartmouth St., 81 Newbury St., 119-120 Newbury St., 177 Newbury St., 179 Newbury St., 220 Newbury St., and 286-288 Newbury St.

Anglo-Irish made another big play on Newbury St. earlier this year when it paid $42 million for 201 Newbury St., while Irish capital was also the force being sales of 324 and 330 Newbury St. to begin the year. More recently, an investment firm based in Limerick, Ireland, paid $4.5 million for 165 Newbury St.

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