BOSTON-Emerson College has reached an agreement to sell the last of its remaining Back Bay properties to a Connecticut developer who acquired seven Simmons College buildings in the same neighborhood earlier last year. Stamford, CT-based TerraMark LLC will pay just under $50 million for three Emerson dormitories located at 6 Arlington St., 100 Beacon St. and 132-134 Beacon St. along with the school's student union building at 96 Beacon St., a source familiar with the deal tells GlobeSt.com.
The firm plans to convert the buildings, which total 135,000 sf and are located near the Boston Public Garden, into condominiums. The buildings were put on the market just weeks ago and "came and went pretty quickly," says another source, who did not want to be identified. For previous coverage, click here.
Proceeds from the sale will fund a multimillion-dollar, 14-story residence hall and campus center which is currently under construction at 150 Boylston St. It will be a first for the school, which has never built new residence housing in its 124-year history. In the last 12 years, the art and performance school has sold off most of its Back Bay holdings to fund the construction of its Theater District campus.
In February, the school announced that it would exercise its purchase option on the Colonial Building on Boylston Street, which it plans to convert into a 400-bed dormitory. Two floors of that building may also be used for library space. The school also acquired the Paramount Center on Washington Street, which it plans to begin renovating this fall.
TerraMark, which last year paid Simmons College $32 million for six townhouses on Commonwealth Avenue and another on Marlborough Street totaling approximately 90,000 sf, could not be reached for comment. Emerson College officials did not return several phone calls. Simmons is leasing back four of the buildings until construction is completed on a new business school at its Fenway campus. The remaining three buildings will be converted into condominiums.
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