"This purchase is an incredible opportunity as we now own our very own space, while still remaining in the same area of Downtown Boston," says NCLC executive director Willard Ogburn, whose nonprofit organization helps low-income people resolve consumer issues. The group has had a long-time presence in the city, but Ogburn says the new space represents "a major upgrade" for the NCLC, which will now have the capacity to expand.

The purchase gives NCLC a measure of certainty in its occupancy costs as well, notes Codman Co. broker Tom Robinson, who represented the buyer along with Codman principal James Belli. That element is key in the current marketplace, given that the improvement in Boston's Financial District is now impacting even class B assets such as the building where NCLC had been occupied, the nearby 77 Summer St. The group will relocate to its new home by the second quarter of next year.

Constructed in 1877 and restored into a mix of office and retail space in 1985, 7 Winthrop Sq. has a granite exterior and double-glazed, bronze-tinted windows and a lobby of brass and glass located on Otis St. The seller, a New York firm who owns the entity under the moniker Seven Winthrop Square LLC, represented themselves in the transaction. The building has changed hands three times in the past 10 years.