Congress Group Suburban Buys Fuel Speculation

FRAMINGHAM, MA-Pennsylvania Avenue here is quite unassuming compared to its famous counterpart in Washington, DC, but the narrow dead-end street has smitten at least one intriguing commercial real estate operator. Known for such imposing ventures as the 33 Arch St. skyscraper in Downtown Boston and the 435-unit Museum Towers residential project on the Charles River in Cambridge, developer Dean Stratouly is snagging his second Pennsylvania Avenue building in six months, a move that has caught the notice of industry observers.

The conquests of 135 and 137 Pennsylvania Ave. are meager, with each two-acre lot housing a small, aging commercial building. Stratouly’s Congress Group paid just $2.45 million for 135 Pennsylvania Ave., and is said to be spending about the same on 137 Pennsylvania Ave. Given Stratouly’s resume–even helping develop Boston’s $800-million convention center earlier this decade–speculation is rising over whether the Framingham goals also tilted on the super size. “People wonder what he’s doing up there,” relays one source, describing a “buzz” circulating about the maneuvers. Apparently, there is good reason for the clamor.

“It gives us a significant amount of acreage,” Stratouly concurs to GlobeSt.com, simultaneously acceding that his platform is “to build high,” at least skyward enough to capture the same views afforded Bose Corp.’s headquarters one hillside behind. Besides vistas of the MetroWest countryside, tenants will have exposure to motorists traversing the Massachusetts Turnpike below, maintains Stratouly, as Bose adroitly does from its perch on the aptly named Mountain Road.