Meritage Confirms $10M Buy of City Block

CAMBRIDGE, MA-A New York investment firm is the entity that purchased a Cambridge commercial block earlier this week, brokers orchestrating the deal have acknowledged. Jones Lang LaSalle broker Scott Jamieson tells GlobeSt.com that Meritage Properties is the buyer of 485 Massachusetts Ave. in Cambridge’s revitalized Central Square. Documents listed Meritage principals Andrew Nathan and Arthur DellaSalla as the purchasers, and Jamieson confirmed speculation that the investment was being made on behalf of their real estate firm, based in Scarsdale, NY.

“They are excited about the acquisition,” says Jamison, whose Boston-based capital markets group represented the seller, long-time Cambridge businessman Arnold Goldstein. The divestment was initiated by the departure of lead tenant SEA Consultants, an event calling for repositioning 485 Massachusetts Ave., explains Jamieson, with Goldstein ultimately opting to leave the challenge to someone else. “This is right up their alley,” Jamieson says of the buyers. Meritage is in the midst of trading another local value-added venture it acquired in 2005. JLL is also broker on that 12-story, 202,000-sf office building.

Besides the property itself, which is registered as 479, 485 and 493 Massachusetts Ave., Meritage purchased an accompanying parking lot. While parking is scarce, several bus lines operate out of Central Square, which is also serviced by the Red Line subway. That option provides transit to both Downtown Boston in one direction and is one stop away from Harvard Square westbound.