While not reaching the reported $30 million that Intercontinental was said to be seeking originally, the figure is well above the $10 million spent to buy the building in 1997.
Intercontinental scooped up 100 Franklin St. as part of its first commingled real estate investment fund. It then launched an extensive overhaul of the property, including the addition of modern mechanical systems, restored lobbies, new windows and interior renovations.
A major coup for Intercontinental occurred when it lured the Boston Stock Exchange to the property, building out a state-of-the-art trading floor that boosted the exchange's standing in the Financial District and providing the building with a long-term, solid credit tenant. According to principal Peter Palandjian, 100 Franklin St. today is "widely regarded as one of Boston's architectural jewels."
Palandjian also says the sale is another example of the success of the Intercontinental Real Estate Investment Fund One, explaining that, "Our goal for Fund One was to acquire assets in 'A' locations with value-add and repositioning opportunities." The firm has already sold the other four properties included in the fund, having recently traded 358 Chestnut Hill Ave. in the Brighton section of Boston for $1.5 million. The firm also sold One Bulfinch Square in Downtown Boston this summer for $18.7 million. That property was the first of the fund's acquisitions.
Of all five properties, however, the 92-year-old 100 Franklin St. is the most well known locally. For years, it was the home of the Boston Coordinating Committee, a powerful group of local business leaders considered a behind-the-scenes force in Boston politics. Meeting in the basement vault of the former bank headquarters, the committee came to be known as The Vault. The group was ultimately disbanded in the early 1990s when its role was diminished by the arrival of new political administrations.
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