Newbury Street CRE Sales Crest $100M

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.