Despite the halt of a major National Development construction project in the Longwood Medical Area, principals from National Development and Charles River Realty Investors recently dropped $62 million on a nearby Brookline office building. The home of the New England Institute of Art at 10 Brookline Place West – as well as some Dana Farber Cancer Institute offices – was eye-catching because of its location near the Longwood Medical area, said Thomas Alperin, president of National Development. His company has undertaken development of a science research building, called Longwood Center, at the nearby corner of Longwood and Brookline avenues. In November, National Development and project partner Alexandria Real Estate Equities announced a halt to that project because of a lack of leased tenants.
Despite the halt of a major National Development construction project in the Longwood Medical Area, principals from National Development and Charles River Realty Investors recently dropped $62 million on a nearby Brookline office building. The home of the New England Institute of Art at 10 Brookline Place West – as well as some Dana Farber Cancer Institute offices – was eye-catching because of its location near the Longwood Medical area, said Thomas Alperin, president of National Development. His company has undertaken development of a science research building, called Longwood Center, at the nearby corner of Longwood and Brookline avenues. In November, National Development and project partner Alexandria Real Estate Equities announced a halt to that project because of a lack of leased tenants.
Alperin said the company had no plans to significantly change the tenants or structure of 10 Brookline Place West, which has 160,000 square feet of office space and a 200-car garage beneath the structure.
Michael Smith, managing director with capital markets for Jones Lang LaSalle, agreed that real estate in the Longwood area is a pretty safe bet, and the buyers got a decent price for their purchase. And if you have the cash, now is the time to buy, he said; prices are much lower than they would have been 12-18 months ago.
Refis In The Air
Low interest rates have prompted a refinancing boom, which has at least given mortgage originators the duct tape to patch together some business during these long, hard months. But can those low rates help with the heap of foreclosed property glutting the market?
Well, no and yes. Bankers say those low rates can’t forestall those foreclosures, but there’s a glimmer of hope that they’ll at least spur up buying of foreclosed or bank-owned property when the springtime buying season kicks in.
John Battaglia of The Cambridge Mortgage Group said realtors in his acquaintance have recently seen "more activity" from potential buyers making inquiries about foreclosed and bank-owned property – an unusual thing for January. Sales haven’t risen yet, but Battaglia says they’re expected to rise once the snow melts and buyers pull the trigger on the homes they’re currently checking out.
John Heerwagen, CEO of Middlesex Savings Bank, says he still sees a lot of uncertainty in the marketplace, with people who would otherwise buy sitting on the sidelines, waiting for rates to drop yet lower, or waiting for their individual economic futures to look brighter.
"We might know better in six months or so, when the weather turns, and we’ll have a better sense of the economy," he said.
Retirement? Not So Fast
SunLife Financial‘s latest "Unretirement Survey" showed that 54 percent of all respondents say they’re probably going to put off retirement for at least a year because of the sagging economy. Sure, one year’s not so bad – but about 24 percent said they’ll work five years or longer than they’d like to. The Canadian life insurance company – which has significant operations in Wellesley Hills – stated in a release that the last time they did such a survey, four of the five top reasons for working past age 67 were non-financial. Now, respondents are fretting about earning enough money and getting health care benefits. But it’s not all bad news: a full 80 percent said they’d keep working "to stay mentally engaged" and 63 percent said they’d stay because "I love my career." So while many have to keep working, at least they don’t hate their jobs. Silver lining, maybe?
Another Log On The Fire
The list of grievances against Progressive Auto Insurance just keeps getting longer – if only slightly longer this time. Banker & Tradesman reported on Dec. 16 that many local insurers and agents were irked that giant competitor Progressive apparently doesn’t have to contribute to the state-operated pool of money that insures risky drivers. But another, lesser-known wrinkle is that Progressive apparently does participate in a different risky driver pool – and they get paid for it.
The situation is this: Progressive is exempt from a risky driver pool for personal auto insurance, which usually operates at a deficit. But the pool for commercial auto insurance, by contrast, usually has a surplus. Progressive, which has been insuring commercial auto in Massachusetts for several years, got a check for $138,000 for participating in the pool in 2007. Not a massive sum, but with anti-Progressive grumbling already approaching a dull roar, this extra twist does little to quell insurers’ ire.
