Hanover Co. Reaping Near $70M from TA Realty for 184 Apartments
October 25, 2016 - By Joe Clements
SWAMPSCOTT—Superlatives were plentiful pitching a luxury apartment complex completed last year in this oceanfront North Shore enclave, and it appears the sales campaign for developer Hanover Co. orchestrated by JLL is validating such lofty proclamations given that the 184-unit community is on the verge of trading at a price approaching $70 million. If it were to eclipse $69 million, that would exceed $375,000 per apartment, considered a healthy metric for suburban rental product.
Deemed “imminent” by one CRE professional familiar with the negotiations, Hanover’s pending exchange involves TA Realty as winning bidder after the prolific Boston-based investor outdueled a wide berth of well-heeled competitors. The suitors had been assembled by JLL’s multifamily practice group led by Managing Directors Michael Coyne and Travis D’Amato, members of the New England Capital Markets division run by Christopher Angelone and Frank Petz. JLL did not respond to inquiries as of press deadline regarding the outcome for a process described by industry observers as “hotly contested” and “a dogfight” that featured multiple institutional players in the hunt, reflecting their continued comfort for residential opportunities outside of metropolitan Boston. Other JLL multifamily team members helping on the listing are Vice Presidents Kevin Gleason and Brendan Shields.
Located at 330 Paradise Rd., Hanover Vinnin Square was touted by its creator during the leasing program for possessing “cutting-edge amenities, meticulously groomed grounds and a dedicated staff” revolving around a pair of low-rise residential buildings containing one-, two- and three-bedroom layouts. Perched alongside Route 1A between Nahant Bay and seaside Marblehead, the property has a 4,500-sf resident clubhouse, 24/7 fitness facility featuring Technogym equipment and a business center powered by iMac desktops. There is a grand lobby, fireplace, private screening room wired with surround-sound and resort-style pool and sun deck.
TA Realty has a diverse CRE appetite including industrial and office buildings, but multifamily is also in the firm’s skill set. Team members there include founding principal Michael A. Ruane with Scott L. Dalrymple, Nathan Foss and James P. Raisides other key principals. According to company materials in circulation, TA Realty has acquired in excess of $26.1 billion of CRE since its inception, doing so on behalf of private investors and institutional funds through a series of 11 value-added, closed-end commingled funds and customized core separate accounts. As of mid-year, the company had $11.4 billion of gross assets under management.
The Hanover Co./JLL connection might sound familiar, with the developer this past spring taking in $215 million upon selling a 398-unit apartment complex in Cambridge’s emerging Alewife District. JLL’s multifamily team had that record-breaking exclusive that yielded an astounding $540,000 per unit for the newly constructed luxury project at 160 CambridgePark Dr. JLL procured another local investor, GID, following that listing process.
The Hanover Co. has hardly been JLL’s only client of 2016, underscored by another pending urban apartment building sale in Boston’s North Station where Simpson Housing this summer hired their multifamily crew to harvest The Victor, an upscale high-rise across from TD Boston Garden. There, GID is partnering with a California state pension fund to buy 286 LEED Gold-certified apartments and 17,000-sf of prized retail in one of New England’s most thriving LWP districts. The 11-story, 377,000-sf Victor will bring between $188 million and $190 million, market watchers had told Real Reporter in an August article on that deal also expected to be consummated in the near term.
Already in the late going of 2015, JLL has wrapped up another suburban assignment, representing Equity Residential in divesting a 156-unit apartment development in Canton to Newton-based Universal Realty Inc. Founder Stuart Levey enhanced his portfolio south of Boston for a price tag of $183,000 per unit—aka $28.6 million—to land a 12-building, value-add complex directly off Route 138. That transaction involving Arboretum Apartments was previously detailed in a September Real Reporter breaking news story and is part of a banner season in which the JLL multifamily brokerage effort is nearing the elusive $1 billion milestone for annual volume.
