Another Downtown Class B Asset Trades for Nice Profit

4 Liberty Square, Boston MA

BOSTON—An affiliate of New York City-based Atlas Real Estate Partners has purchased the boutique Class B office building at 4 Liberty Square in Downtown Boston for $12.25 million. The property in less than two years turned a profit of $3.6 million and calculates out to more than $471-a-square-foot. The seller—an affiliate of Abramson Brothers of New York City—entered the Boston market back in October 2014 with the $8.8-million purchase of the 26,000-square-foot, six-story office and retail building. JLL managing directors Frank Petz says that demand has picked up for Class B product in Downtown Boston and characterizes the B office sector as the “preferred asset for today’s new economy tenancy.” Petz, along with managing directors Chris Angelone and Jessica Hughes, VP Matthew Sherry, and associate George Gregory led the JLL team in representing Abramson Brothers in the transaction. “Innovation tenants are knocking on the doors of Boston’s CBD looking for properties like 4 Liberty Square,” Petz says. “Thanks to refreshed demand, Class B is now exhibiting healthier fundamentals than its Class A counterpart.” The 4 Liberty Square building, which was constructed in 1900, is currently 100% leased to six tenants and provides the new ownership with near term stable cash flow, but does offer an immediate opportunity to increase rents this year, Petz adds. Petz’s bullish comments on the Class B market, including increased demand for Class B space in Downtown Boston, mirror sentiments of other commercial brokers in the city. For example, Liz Berthelette, director of research for NAI Hunneman, tells Globest.com, “Class B office sales in the downtown markets, in terms of volume, have been growing exponentially since the end of the recession.” The 4 Liberty Square building features 3,300-square-foot floor plates. The ground floor and lower levels of the building are occupied by the Vanderbilt restaurant. The sale price at $471-a-square-foot matches the recent sale of 33-41 West St. in Downtown Boston, which sold for $16 million or more than $470-a-square-foot.