$530M Landmark Center Sale Closes

BOSTON-A joint venture of Samuels & Associates and a unit of JPMorgan Chase has closed on the $530.5-million acquisition of the Landmark Center. The Abbey Group, which converted the long-vacant former Sears distribution center near Fenway Park into a 950,000-square-foot office/retail complex in 2000, was the seller.

Abbey Group’s president and COO, David Epstein, says in a statement that the sale gives the developer “flexibility to do some new and exciting things. We love the development side of the business and we love creating form where none exists, like we did with our 45 Province condominium project. This sale allows us to do that going forward.”

Originally built in 1928 as a warehouse and distribution facility for Sears, Roebuck & Co., the Landmark Center had been vacant for more than 10 years before the Abbey Group acquired it. Abbey Group says it’s currently 98% occupied, with tenants including Blue Cross Blue Shield, Harvard School of Public Health, Harvard Medical School, Bed Bath & Beyond, Best Buy and a 13-screen Regal Cinemas theater. There is also a proposed expansion of 337,000 square feet, to be known as Landmark North.

Robert E. Griffin Jr., Edward C. Maher, Jr. and Frank J. Nelson, all of Cushman & Wakefield’s capital markets group, represented the seller and procured the buyer in the transaction. GlobeSt.com first reported a deal was in the works this past November; the Boston Globe reported the sale’s closing on Tuesday.