MIT Expands With $90M Portfolio Buy

"That is correct," Colliers Meredith & Grew investment sales chief Lisa Campoli tells GlobeSt.com of MIT's acquisition of the Cambridge Life Sciences Portfolio. "We had a ton of interest in it." Campoli's firm was retained, on behalf of a family trust, to sell the package, which has 148,000 sf of space and two parking lots. Joining the EVP in brokering the sale were CMG principal Joseph Flaherty and VPs Tucker Hansen and Nicholas Herz.

GlobeSt.com first reported last autumn, that MIT was negotiating to acquire pieces of the package, but school officials and CMG officials declined to discuss the matter at the time. The assets were sold by members of the Stimpson family, whose predecessors constructed many of the buildings in the 1920s to facilitate the namesake Stimpson Terminal Co.

Efforts to contact MIT officials by press deadline were unsuccessful. The school paid the most for 185-187 Albany St., which fetched $30 million. The connected 195 Albany St. traded for just under $26 million, while MIT shelled out another $19.06 million for 57 Erie St. and 149 Sidney St.. The Erie St. property is a parking lot, while 149 Sidney St. is a two-story brick building leased to Acceleron Pharmaceuticals. Another $11.4 million went for 148 Sidney St., and a parking lot at 207 Albany St. traded for an even $4.0 million.

Traditionally a gritty industrial district bordering a thickly settled residential area, Cambridgeport, in recent years, has become a haven for new-era companies, and the older product that MIT acquired is intermingled with several new or refurbished buildings. Altus Pharmaceuticals occupies 185 and 195 Albany St..

"It has become quite the neighborhood for both small and big life sciences companies," acknowledges Campoli. MIT also has operations in Cambridgeport, and is in the midst of developing new student housing on Albany St. close to the just-acquired buildings. Campoli deferred questions about the portfolio's future to MIT, but says she believes the buildings will continue to be leased out to tenants on a third-party basis over the near term.