An eleven-member group of the Cornell Associate Real Estate Club (AREC) went to Boston over the weekend of October 25th to visit several properties in various phases of development and speak with representatives and developers about the status and challenges of each project. Students visited the Avalon and Ava Somerville projects at Assembly Square by Avalon Bay and Federal Realty Trust, Cleveland Circle by Boston Development Group in Brighton, and Radian Boston by Forest City Enterprise.
Assembly Square is a large, multi-phase, smart growth, mixed-use development project in Somerville being developed by Federal Realty Trust, a retail real estate investment trust based in Rockville, Maryland with 87 properties nationwide. Federal Realty acquired a portion of the site in 2005, and the remainder in 2012, for a total of 45 acres. The firm partnered with Avalon Bay Communities to build the first phase, consisting of an outlet-retail and entertainment model called Assembly Row, with apartments above the ground floor, office, structured parking, and a waterfront park with a recreation path. Students met with leasing agents from Avalon Bay’s Avalon at Assembly Square project (195 units) and AVA Somerville (253 units) to walk through model apartments and amenity offerings for residents, and then met with Patrick McMahon, Director of Development of Federal Realty to discuss the project development, retail offerings, and future phases of the project.
Brighton’s Cleveland Circle project came next, a proposal by Boston Development Group to build 162 hotel rooms, 92 apartments, 14,000 square feet of retail space, and 188 parking spaces on a site currently occupied by an Applebee’s, and a vacant movie theatre, the former “Circle Cinema”. Students met with Matthew Michetti, the Development and Acquisitions Associate for BDG heading-up the project to discuss how the project developed, and the status of the future construction.
After a drive downtown, the group visited Radian Boston, a 26-story, 240-unit apartment building developed by Forest City Enterprise at the nexus of Chinatown and the Leather District in Downtown Boston. The tour walked students through the apartment amenities like a large gym on the fifth floor, and through several apartment types. The view from the 26th floor was certainly a highlight, which provides a clear shot across Boston Harbor. Following the tour, a reception was held at the Liberty Hotel’s Clink Bar & Restaurant, a Starwood Hotels historic conversion project that turned the 1851 “Suffolk County Jail” jail into a premier hotel experience.
