70 Federal Street sells - 7-story Brutalist building

[JohnAKeith]

70 Federal Street sold August 23rd for $41 million. It last sold in 2016 to Nuveen / TIAA for $38 million, which is a paper profit but after an investment of up to $5 million by Nuveen, perhaps not.

Others probably know the history better than I but from what I found online, it was designed by Tad Stahl, a local architect. It was completed in 1968 and owned by the original developer (and then his daughter) until Nuveen bought it in 2016.

Apparently, you were able to (or are still able to) walk a passageway from Federal to Franklin Street but I'm not sure if you can now. Is it / was it public?

It's branded as 7PO now.

 

[12345]

Will it be redeveloped?

 

[DBM]

Will it be redeveloped?

I highly doubt it, only because of my assumption that Fidelity has a very long lease there with its retail brokerage branch--perhaps that's why the sale was so attractive, in a period in which Downtown office towers are otherwise simply not trading?

Even if Fidelity gets very little foot traffic at the branch, I bet they love its "billboard"/branding aspect... (and if they occupy more than just the first floor, then, maybe a healthy plurality of the building is leased by them?

 

[PercyL]

I think that's one of the Financial District's best modern buildings. It echoes skeletal cast iron commercial architecture of the mid-19th century. The original details, such as they are, are well proportioned (I am not a fan of the more recetly added black surface treatment between the first, second and third floors) - so many modern architects (even those who choose classicism as their language) don't get the proportions of columns/piers visually quite right for the sites chosen (it gets way worse when columns/piers are doubling as space for modern utility conduits). It's a neighborly design that does not call attention to itself with gimmickry or bluster.

 

[DBM]

I think that's one of the Financial District's best modern buildings.

Indeed, that and 10 School St. [aka Walgreens superstore] are both superior Brutalist examples in my mind. Some would argue City Hall is too, of course--but to me, City Hall is permanently disqualified due to the epic failure of its plaza--and of course they were part of a "combo plate."

So, when it comes to Brutalism in DTX, two out of three ain't bad?

 

[PercyL]

Yes, I agree with pairing 70 Federal with 10 School as good, one might even say, refined, examples in this district.