Brickman's Cambridge Office Buy Nears $36M

CAMBRIDGE, MA-A few observers raised eyebrows when H.N. Gorin Inc. paid $22.5 million for 955 Massachusetts Ave. in late 2002, but any skepticism about the pricing would seemingly be silenced by the building’s latest disposition, this time to New York City investment group Brickman Associates. The fully leased, 95,000-sf office building traded for $35.7 million, delivering yet another substantial return for the Boston-based sellers.

A development and investment firm whose local roots date back to 1909, H.N. Gorin has a diverse portfolio of industrial, multifamily, office and retail space. The company sold Brickman two Boston buildings in 2006 that had been renovated into retail and office space. In the Government Center district, H.N. Gorin harvested One Bowdoin Sq. for $41 million after paying $32 million for the 132,000-sf office building in 1999, then subsequently sold Brickman 55 Summer St. in the Downtown Crossing district. The latter asset had been owned by Gorin since 1999, and had an adventurous spate that ended positively by the arrival of a large CVS pharmacy to anchor the 125,000-sf property. Gorin sold 55 Summer St. to Brickman a year ago for $37.2 million.

The Cambridge building just now changing hands had been acquired in December 2002 following a brief ownership by Paradigm Properties and the Carlyle Group. That partnership had purchased the building in December 1999 for $17.3 million before abruptly selling to Gorin a few years later. At an impressive $375 per sf, the sale price to Brickman is double what Paradigm paid less than 10 years ago, reflecting both a stronger market and a series of improvements made to the asset. According to one account, rents in the building are in the $40-per-sf range, healthy for Cambridge, especially given the fringe location between Central and Harvard Squares.