Banker & Tradesman, February 27, 2017

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www.bankerandtradesman.com

WEEK OF MONDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2017

services

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A Publication of The Warren Group

KIDS THESE DAYS

BANKS LOOK TO ATTRACT, RETAIN MILLENNIAL EMPLOYEES IN A FINTECH AGE Community FIs Offer What Millennials Say They Want In A Workplace

BY LAURA ALIX BANKER & TRADESMAN STAFF

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illennials – can’t live with ’em, can’t grow without ’em. And if the banking industry is to survive, it needs to get smart about attracting and retaining Gen Y employees among its ranks. Fun though it may be to poke fun of Gen Y as socially inept basement dwellers, the fact of the matter Continued on Page 9

SUCCESSFUL TURNAROUND

COMMERCIAL INTERESTS

Getting In On The Ground Floor Oxford Breathes New Life Into Tower By Relocating Entrance BY STEVE ADAMS BANKER & TRADESMAN STAFF

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or a component of one of the biggest-ticket commercial transactions in Boston history, 125 Summer St. managed to fly below the radar in most discussions of the city’s premier office buildings. Just over two years ago, the 22story tower’s occupancy rate was 65 percent. The 475,303-square-foot building across from South Station was marketed as the “valueadd” opportunity in a five-building portfolio being sold by Blackstone Group, and Phil Dorman knew some of the reasons why. “I would describe that as a euphemism for ‘the building that nobody wanted to buy on its own and got packaged with a bunch of buildings that people wanted to buy,’” said Dorman, director of leasing for Oxford Property Group’s Boston office. “It really had never performed in its life cycle. It was beaten down in the marketplace and nobody wanted to move there. But we loved the building and the location and the opportuStantec designed a hotel-inspired lobby and new front entrance nity to turn it around.” designed to maximize the building’s proximity to the Rose Today the tower is 95 perFitzgerald Kennedy Greenway. cent leased and an office ten-

ant has signed a letter of intent for the largest remaining availability, nearly 24,000 square feet on the second floor, Dorman said. Oxford paid $2.1 billion for the Blackstone portfolio, including $242.5 million for 125 Summer St. But it was the last $10 million of capital improvements that have made all the difference.

CONTENTS

In Person ������������������������������������������������������������������ 7

Banking & Lending �������������������������������������������������� 9

Points ����������������������������������������������������������������������� 4

Residential �������������������������������������������������������������� 8

Classified Sections ������������������������������������������������� 10

By The Numbers ������������������������������������������������������� 6

Commercial & Industrial ���������������������������������������� B1

Records Section ������������������������������������������������������ C1

Separating From The Streetscape Completed in 1987, the building’s design reflected the architectural trends and downtown landscape of the era. The main entrance and lobby were located on a shady block of Summer Street, wedged between a row of older buildings. The original postmodern architecture, designed to mesh with the surrounding low-rise buildings, didn’t help, said Larry Grossman, a senior principal with architects Stantec. “At the time there was a huge desire for contextualism, meaning keeping the existing fabric of the city and trying to blend into it,” Grossman said. “It was contemporary construction, but made to look more historical. What we realized was that it was a building that was hiding, but in plain sight.” Visitors who did manage to find Continued on Page B9

Chasm Grows Between Tower Purchase Prices And Rents Record-Breaking Buys Aren’t Supported By Office Rents BY SCOTT VAN VOORHIS BANKER & TRADESMAN COLUMNIST

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oston’s skyline is attracting record sums as real estate investors from around the world throw around massive amounts of money to snap up the city’s top office towers. So go figure this: Office rents at the city’s top corporate addresses are actually lower – in fact considerably lower – than they were either in 2008, before the global financial crisis, or for that matter way back at the start of the century in 2001. If the gap between those two numbers – the stratospheric prices Hub towers are trading at compared to their relatively hum-drum rent growth – doesn’t bother you, it should. The next bubble to blow up is far more likely to come from the overheated commercial real estate sector than from home prices, as crazy as they are now. Don’t believe for a minute the happy talk that Greater Boston will somehow be immune to it all thanks all our supposed uniqueness, because we certainly aren’t. All the constant drivel about our ivyclad universities and our amazing, innovation-driven economy can’t spare us from Continued on Page 3


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