CAMBRIDGE, MA-A local apartment group has acquired a 40-unit apartment complex in Harvard Square for $10.9 million from seller Brattle Arms Trust. Newton-based Chestnut Hill Realty owns and manages hundreds of Boston area units.
The firm picked up the Brattle Arms Apartments in a quick closing deal by outbidding about 10 other contenders for the six-story brick complex, Ed Zuker, a principal and third generation realtor with Chestnut Hill Realty, tells GlobeSt.com. "The location was important. We own a lot of properties around Harvard Square so it fit into the portfolio."
Zuker says his family began buying apartments around Harvard Square in the 1970s when buildings went for $6,000 per unit. The realty group's latest acquisition was well over $200,000 per unit, he adds.
"We did probably overpay," he admits, but "although we paid a high price for this type of property, when blended with our existing Cambridge properties, it provides a well-balanced economic portfolio."
Situated in the heart of Harvard Square only steps to Harvard Yard, the property is comprised of 26 one-bedroom units and 13 two-bedroom units ranging in size from 575 sf to 1,000 sf. In addition, the community includes one retail unit that currently houses a dentist office as well as a management and leasing office.
"It's an almost bullet-proof location," Brian Doherty, with Cushman & Wakefield's Boston office, tells GlobeSt.com. "You can't get much better than Harvard Square."
Zuker says the company plans on a long-term hold for the property, which it will continue to operate as rental units. The transaction was handled for the seller by Doherty along with Robert E. Griffin Jr., Marci Griffith Loeber and Christopher T. Griffin, all with Cushman & Wakefield's Capital Markets Group, which also procuredthe buyer.
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