BOSTON—The ownership of the Charles River Plaza North project here has secured a total of $345 million in first mortgage and mezzanine financing for the office, research and development complex whose sole tenant is Massachusetts General Hospital.

The Davis Companies and Marcus Partners, Inc., the owners of the 354,594-square-foot property located at 185 Cambridge St. adjacent to Massachusetts General Hospital, secured a $245-million, fixed-rate loan with UBS and a $100-million mezzanine loan with TIAA-CREF. Loan proceeds will be used to refinance an existing loan Holliday Fenoglio Fowler, LP arranged for the borrower in 2007, HFF reports.

Senior managing director Riaz Cassum led the Holliday Fenoglio Fowler debt placement team that represented Davis Companies and Marcus Partners in the transaction. “HFF has had a long history with Charles River Plaza and was involved in securing both the original construction financing for the project in 2003 as well as the permanent loan in 2007,” Cassum says. “We are extremely proud to be involved with such a world class project that represents Boston's strong presence in the field of medical research.”

"We are delighted to have been able to complete this refinancing, which allows our partnership to retain control of a large, highly strategic asset for one of the leading healthcare and healthcare research institutions on the planet," says Jordanna Ferreira, chief financial officer and chief compliance officer for The Davis Companies.

Charles River Plaza North is within the larger 630,000-square-foot Charles River Plaza mixed-use development adjacent to the Massachusetts General Hospital campus in Beacon Hill. Charles River Plaza North is leased in its entirety to The General Hospital Corporation, the parent of MGH and subsidiary of Partners Healthcare System.

Charles River Plaza North is used as a lab/research facility with five distinct research teams each occupying a floor of the building—the Center for Systems Biology, the Center for Regenerative Medicine, the Center for Computational and Integrative Biology, the Wellman Center for Photomedicine and the Center for Human Genetic Research.

The Charles River Plaza property was initially a 229,000-square-footmixed-use property built in the 1960s that was redeveloped into a 640,000-square-foot medical, office, research and retail complex with a 950-car parking facility. According to its website, The Davis Companies purchased the property from the original developer for $76.2 million in June 2000. Simultaneous with the closing, it negotiated a lease expansion/extension with MGH for 70,000 square feet of medical and office space, bringing the property to 100% occupancy.

The ownership subsequently obtained approvals for the development of an additional 411,000 square feet of medical office, lab and retail space on the property. A long-term lease for 355,000 square feet of laboratory space was signed with MGH and in February 2003 construction commenced on the $300-million redevelopment. The project was completed in September 2005 and is now 100% leased to tenants, including Massachusetts General Hospital, Schepens Eye Institute, Whole Foods, and CVS.