Sale near of Verizon?s Post Office Sq. building
By Jay Fitzgerald
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
About 1,500 Verizon employees would be moved out of the company?s famous Post Office Square building next year if a new agreement to sell the landmark property moves forward.
Verizon said yesterday that it has a tentative sale agreement with Kennedy Associates/Commonwealth Ventures, with the deal expected to close later this month. Commonwealth Ventures is also involved with developments in the Seaport and Fort Point Channel areas.
No financial details were released yesterday about the sale of the 18-story, 875,000-square-foot building known for its art deco trimmings, marble interior floors and prime location in the heart of the Financial District.
Real estate experts speculated last summer, when the building was first put on the sale block, that it could fetch about $300 million. But that was before troubles emerged in the financial markets due to the subprime-mortgage meltdown.
The building, originally built in 1947 by AT&T for its New England Telephone unit, is believed to need extensive interior renovation.
Richard Galvin, president of Commonwealth Ventures, declined to comment yesterday.
Phil Santoro, a Verizon spokesman, said most of the 1,500 employees would move to Verizon facilities at 6 Bowdoin Square and 125 High St. Some employees would go to a leased facility somewhere in the Boston area.
Verizon has been selling regional headquarters across the country after scaling back its New England work force over the years. The telecom giant now employs about 14,000 people in Massachusetts.