Fueled by an $11.2 million loan from KayBank, Samuels affiliate Fenway Ventures Point Properties LLC purchased 186-200 Brookline Ave. and the adjoining 1395-1399 Boylston St. The Brookline Avenue asset is home to D'Angelo's Sandwich Shop, and fronts a major intersection at Park Drive leading into the Longwood Medical Area and onto the Jamaicaway. The acquired properties are across from the former Sears warehouse, a hulking art-deco building that now features a Best Buy and other shops, plus 450,000 sf of office space.
The seller of the Fenway buildings is Riverside Properties Inc. of Wellesley, whose faded sign on Brookline Avenue still advertises available space for lease in the low-slung structures. Riverside President Mark Levy did not return a phone call by press deadline. Levy's firm paid $955,000 for the assets in June 1994.
Some observers predict Samuels will pursue a redevelopment play on the block. "Things are definitely going to change," opines one broker familiar with the new owner, and a spokeswoman for Samuels acknowledges as much, telling GlobeSt.com that the firm aims to "continue the spirit of Trilogy" on the parcel, although she says the vision remains undefined. "At this point, we have no specific plans and no timeframe for when we might submit something to the Boston Redevelopment Authority," the spokeswoman relays.
The $200 million Trilogy was the company's first major undertaking in the Fenway, as Samuels acquired the site for $8 million in 1999 and constructed 581 high-end residential units in three towers of 12, 15 and 17 stories. Samuels sold 171 of the units to Harvard University for graduate students. The company is now putting the finishing touches on 1330 Boylston St., another mixed-use high-rise mere blocks from Trilogy and the newly acquired properties. The leasing office for units at 1330 Boylston St. is in the rear portion of the block now fully owned by Samuels. The firm purchased those buildings at 1383 Boylston St. and 176-184 Brookline Ave. in 2003 for $2.4 million.
The latest acquisitions by Samuels also follow the recent purchase of a Goodyear Tire operation at 1345 Boylston St on the opposite side of Trilogy. That $10 million deal was reported by GlobeSt.com.
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