DLJ-Leggat McCall JV Secures $140M for Somerville Office-Lab Project

SOMERVILLE, MA—The joint venture between DLJ Real Estate Capital Partners and Leggat McCall Properties has secured $140 million in financing for its mixed-use 101 South St. project here that is currently under construction.

The financing was provided by Bank OZK for the 289,000-square-foot, Class A office and lab development in the Boynton Yards area of Somerville. JLL arranged the first mortgage financing deal for the joint venture.

The development will be located one mile from Kendall Square/MIT and will consist of nine stories of life science space and approximately 13,500 square feet of ground floor retail.

The building is scheduled to be delivered simultaneously with the planned 2021 opening of the new MBTA Green Line station at Union Square, which is less than a five-minute walk from the project.

101 South St. is the first phase of the ownership’s planned mixed-use development for the Union Square/Boynton Yards area of Somerville. The overall neighborhood plan is envisioned to be an 18-hour, work-live-play neighborhood offering more than 1 million square feet of commercial, residential and retail uses in addition to significant public green space.

JLL’s Capital Markets team representing the borrower was led by senior directors Brett Paulsrud and Jennifer Keller.

“We were able to work closely with the development team to secure a capitalization structure that met their objectives,” JLL’s Paulsrud says. “This development will dramatically transform the landscape of the already popular Somerville neighborhood and it will be very exciting to watch this best-in-class partnership create a new destination for surrounding residents and businesses alike.”

The joint venture announced in late July that construction had commenced on the project. The building’s core and shell are expected to be completed by late spring 2021 with initial tenant occupancy in the summer of 2021. The project team includes architects Spagnolo Gisness & Associates and Hashim Sarkis Studios; general contractor Shawmut Design; and leasing agent Cushman & Wakefield.

Leggat McCall Properties, along joint venture partner BentallGreenOak, on behalf of its U.S. Core Fund, management company, Greystar, and general contractor Suffolk Construction, recently celebrated the topping-off of ‘The Smith’, its newest residential community in the South End of Boston. The Smith is set to open in the spring of 2020.

The development and construction teams ceremoniously raised the last beam on the first building, which will include 299 units. The mixed-use residential project will total approximately 650 apartment units, including an on-site affordable component, distributed over three buildings.