Atlantic Wharf (née Russia Wharf) | Atlantic Ave | Waterfront

^ A genuine brick wall with genuine jack arches.
 
from today's NY Times
.....The upstart bid [last week] for Equity Office Properties, the real estate investment trust that was founded by Samuel Zell, tops a $36 billion deal that Equity Office had reached with the Blackstone Group in November. Either bid would win the crown as the largest buyout ever, surpassing last summer?s $33 billion deal for HCA.

The battle for Equity Office pits some of the most powerful and colorful financiers against each other. Blackstone is controlled by Stephen A. Schwarzman, who has created one of the largest, if not the largest, private equity firms in the nation.

The rival group includes Steven Roth of Vornado Realty Trust, once the king of New Jersey strip malls; Barry Sternlicht of Starwood Capital, who created the hotel chain and then left the company after a falling-out with its board; and Neil Bluhm, a Chicago real estate mogul who backed Barack Obama?s successful run for the United States Senate.
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not much visually has changed. However, I noticed these slightly vaulted ceilings

 
Boston Business Journal said:
Russia Wharf project is under way; owners mum

Boston Business Journal - February 2, 2007
by Michelle Hillman - Journal Staff

Equity Office Properties Trust is in the middle of highly publicized merger talks, but that hasn't stopped the Chicago-based real estate investment trust from moving forward with construction of Russia Wharf.

The project, located at Atlantic Avenue and Congress Street, is under way as construction crews complete interior demolition and ready the vacant site for a groundbreaking this year. Jones Lang LaSalle, the development manager for the mixed-use project, declined to comment on project and referred all questions to Equity Office (NYSE: EOP).

The Russia Wharf project is approved for 330,000 square feet of residential units and a new, 500,000-square-foot office tower. The plan also includes 31,000 square feet of retail and civic uses as well as 23,500 square feet of open space. The original plan called for a hotel, but Equity scrapped that idea.

Despite fielding feuding buyout offers from the private equity firm Blackstone Group and another team led by the New York-based Vornado Realty Trust (NYSE: VNO), Equity Office is moving forward with developments across the country, said Terry Holt, Equity's vice president of public relations. The Blackstone Group raised its cash offer to $54 a share last week, according to published reports. A counter-offer was expected from Vornado, which previously offered $52 a share, on Wednesday.

Should Equity strike a deal with Vornado, Blackstone would receive a $500 million "breakup" fee.

If Blackstone Group's offer is accepted, analysts and real estate executives expect the firm will sell off the portfolio. Keeping the development active and moving forward maintains the value, said David Begelfer, chief executive officer of the local chapter of the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties.

"There is a race on right now to be the first (new) office building," said Begelfer. "The way to corner that market is to start construction."

The official groundbreaking date for Russia Wharf has not been made public, but crews from Turner Construction Co. will soon demolish all but the facades of the two structures on Congress Street, said Charles Buuck, senior vice president of Turner. The 31-story tower will be built behind the two facades on Congress Street.

Russia Wharf is one of several approved projects promising to bring new office towers to Boston's downtown and waterfront neighborhoods.

Fan Pier developer Joseph Fallon recently told the Boston Business Journal he was "exploring" moving ahead on a 480,000-square-foot office building on a speculative basis, or without a signed tenant, this year.

Michelle Hillman can be reached at mhillman@bizjournals.com.
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Russia Wharf Project Being Sold Off

That certainly was quick. It'll be interesting to see if Brandenburg, the demolition contractor, suspends its work.
Eager developers lining up to build at Russia Wharf
By Scott Van Voorhis
Boston Herald Business Reporter
Tuesday, February 13, 2007

The rights to build Boston?s next big office tower went on the sales block yesterday.

As many as 10 real estate firms were expected to file offers to buy the historic Russia Wharf waterfront complex - and the development rights to build a 31-story office, residential and retail tower there, executives familiar with the deal said.

The 19th century harborside office complex and the plans for a mixed-used high-rise are being put up for sale just days after being acquired by the Blackstone Group, a New York buyout firm.

Firms like Boston Properties and Lincoln Property Co., also a major national developer, are competing to buy a project that could be the first new tower built in Boston in years.

With vacancy rates falling, developers are racing to get new office towers into construction. The theory is the first new high-rise to get into the ground will have a key advantage attracting corporate tenants. Blackstone is seeking offers of more than $60 million for the tower site and plan, said one executive familiar with the bidding.

?Everyone is talking about who is going to be the first out of the ground,? said Frank Petz, senior director of CBRE Melody, a Boston-based real estate financier.

Still, the Russia Wharf plan has its flaws, with the first seven floors primarily residential. In today?s slow condo market, those units might be hard to move, executives said yesterday.

Meanwhile, Blackstone?s quick move to jettison the Russia Wharf project is already stirring speculation that the company may sell off other pieces of its newly acquired Boston office empire.

The New York buyout firm acquired Russia Wharf as part of a package of more than a dozen major downtown Boston high-rises, turning it into
the city?s leading tower owner overnight.
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Man, that is fast... this just ran in the Globe on Sat., guess they changed their minds pretty quick...

Blackstone bullish on Boston property
Firm expected to keep local parcels it got in Equity deal
By Thomas C. Palmer Jr., Globe Staff | February 10, 2007

The Blackstone Group officially took possession of about 12 million square feet of office property in the Boston area yesterday as it completed the nation's largest private real estate purchase ever, from Equity Office Properties Trust for $39 billion .

While Blackstone immediately moved to sell off some of the new properties elsewhere in the country, the New York-based company views the Boston market as strong and is expected to hold on to the nearly two dozen Boston-area towers, buildings, and office parks it acquired.

"The bottom line is Blackstone covets Boston," said Roy March, chief executive of Eastdil Secured LLC of New York, which advised Blackstone on the monumental purchase.

Like many others in the real estate industry, Blackstone sees Boston as a city poised for significant increases in rents and values in the office market.

The holdings include some signature local addresses, such as Rowes Wharf, Russia Wharf, Center Plaza, and 60 State Street in downtown Boston, the Wellesley Office Park, and the New England Executive Park in Burlington.

Meantime Boston-based Beacon Capital Partners LLC moved in on a portion of the Equity Office holdings by agreeing to purchase the portfolios in the Washington, D.C., area and in Seattle and suburban Seattle that Blackstone acquired, according to an executive briefed on the deal. They total 16.5 million square feet.

The price for the Seattle and Washington portfolios is just under $6.5 billion, the executive said, and he described the properties that Beacon Capital has agreed to purchase as "irreplaceable assets." He asked not to be identified because the sale has not closed.

Beacon Capital Partners, run by Alan Leventhal and partners, invests in what he has called "knowledge-based markets," and cities where it is difficult to build more office space. Washington and Seattle fit that profile, as does Boston.

Beacon Capital already owns about 3 million square feet of property in Washington and Virginia, and the additional Blackstone properties would bring that total to almost 10 million. In Seattle, Beacon owns about a million square feet, but its holdings would balloon by another 10 million there if that closing occurs soon, as expected.

Beacon itself just sold the John Hancock complex and a number of other buildings to Broadway Real Estate Partners for $3.3 billion.

The real estate investment market is so red hot that buyers now are starting to line up extensive resales of property they are buying so the purchases and sales to third parties can happen as soon as the same day. Broadway, for example, immediately resold three of the former Beacon Capital buildings in the Back Bay.

Donald J. Chiofaro, developer of International Place, agrees with Blackstone's current "hold" strategy in Boston. Chiofaro, who said he is hoping to buy the Russia Wharf development site if Blackstone sells, predicted property here is only going to continue to go up in value.

Rents for the best space in Boston are in the range of $60 per square foot and rising. "Predictions are they are going to go way up to $100," said Chiofaro.
 
First new tower in years? Scotty makes it seem like One Lincoln, 33 arch, 111 and the new ritz complex happened in 1986, a total hack indeed
 
Bidding war for Russia Wharf

Bidding war erupts for Russia Wharf
Price could top $100m; condos, offices due at site

By Thomas C. Palmer Jr., Globe Staff | February 20, 2007

Russia Wharf, a historic redevelopment site slated for a 31-story office tower and dozens of luxury condos, is on the market and drawing fierce bidding expected to exceed $100 million, said executives briefed on the matter.

The three-building complex, along Congress Street between the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway and Fort Point Channel, is the only property now being sold out of the 12-million-square-foot Boston-area portfolio that Blackstone Group bought this year.

It was part of a $39 billion purchase of real estate nationwide from Equity Office Properties Trust, of Chicago.

But the site -- which could house the first office tower to start construction in an increasingly promising Boston market -- is encumbered by a planned mix of uses that could be hard to construct profitably, according to some developers.

And an escalating lawsuit with its next-door neighbor, the developer of the InterContinental Boston Hotel and Residences at the InterContinental, throws uncertainty and potentially increased costs into any deal.

Russia Wharf, largely gutted, is being prepared for redevelopment into a 395-foot office tower and waterfront condominiums, indoor and outdoor public space including a 10-story atrium, retail space, and 650 below-grade parking spaces. The buildings were erected over a century ago to house goods from ships coming from St. Petersburg.

About a dozen bidders pursued the project, including well-known local names like International Place developer Donald J. Chiofaro and 33 Arch St. developer Dean F. Stratouly -- who himself was involved in redeveloping the old wharf buildings into office space more than two decades ago. Chiofaro and most of the others are now out of the bidding, according to several executives briefed on the marketing process. The short list is down to four.

The executives asked not to be identified, because the bids are not due until Friday.

Neither Blackstone nor its investment advisers would comment yesterday. It's unknown when a buyer would be selected, but a decision is expected quickly.

According to the executives, the four remaining bidders are:

Related Cos. of New York, a national owner and developer.

Hines Interests LP of Houston, which is also planning an office tower complex at South Station.

Boston Properties Inc., a large real estate company that owns the Prudential Center.

Tishman Speyer Properties LP of New York, which owns 125 High St. and One Federal St. in Boston.

None of the active bidders would comment yesterday.

Stratouly, who knows the site well, having redeveloped it before, wanted to take it on again.

"I was disappointed to learn last week that I didn't make it to the final round," Stratouly said yesterday. "It's a great piece of real estate. It has some challenges with its currently permitted concept, and its abutter."

Stratouly was referring to the fact that mixing condos and possibly a hotel with office and public space is tricky, and construction costs have skyrocketed, especially for parking underground.

And Equity Office had a long, contentious relationship with Extell Development Co. of New York, which built the $330 million InterContinental next door. Extell owns the 40 feet or so between the buildings and filed suit to protect its residents from infringement by Russia Wharf's developers, either permanently or during construction.

Although Equity Office redesigned its tower to accommodate the InterContinental's views, other issues remain, and the suit has heated up recently. A judge this year halted any work at Russia Wharf that encroached on Extell's property.

Brian Fallon, a partner at Extell, said his company has never tried to stop Russia Wharf from being redeveloped.

"We need to be reckoned with like any other abutter on an urban project," he said. "We believe the prior owner attempted to trample our rights, and fortunately a court has upheld our property rights."
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Sounds like Intercontinental (Extell) is looking for some money for use of the alley.
 
Does all this mean that construction has been halted at the moment? Or is this just all about who will get to claim ownership of the building once it's finished?
 
tmac9wr said:
Does all this mean that construction has been halted at the moment? Or is this just all about who will get to claim ownership of the building once it's finished?
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I'll speculate that Brandenburg -- which seems to do very few jobs in New England -- was brought in specifically to do the tricky demolition of the interior core space and also excavate for the 650 space underground garage, and that work would continue.

I'll also speculate that the bids are for the site 'as is', the cost of the demolition work done to date and some portion of demolition/construction work to be done by Brandenburg and Turner through some future date, the 'value' of the permitting and approvals that go with the site, and for any completed architectural and engineering design work.

The Herald also reported today that Blackstone seems intent on selling off other downtown Boston properties it acquired with the purchase of Equity.
 
I support In(ter)continental's efforts to defend this wonderful waterfront promenade accessible for public enjoyment.

justin

00004.jpg
 
I hope I'm not the only one who thinks that running those steel beams through the existing windows and preserving the original wall is a great design feature. I wonder if there will be evidence of this technique apparent in the final project?
 
Well, looking at the rendering, it appears that those are only temporary. Or at least they are not in the renderings. It would be a nifty design element, however.
 
I seen you ...

xec, were you taking those photos on Sunday. If so, I seen you. I thought the guys in the Fed building were gonna come out and grab ya for taking photos.
 
The facade bracing is temporary during construction. It will only be around for two years until the main structure is in place. When it extends around Congress Street it should look impressive.
 
melkor said:
The facade bracing is temporary during construction. It will only be around for two years until the main structure is in place. When it extends around Congress Street it should look impressive.
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Ahh, that does make more sense now that I think about it (and compare with the rendering). The visual just struck me quite a bit.
 
Boston Properties wins bidding war for Russia Wharf
Boston Business Journal - 6:03 PM EST Tuesday, March 6, 2007
by Michelle Hillman
Boston Business Journal


Boston Properties Inc. has won the bidding war for a prized development site known as Russia Wharf, according to real estate sources.

The price is around $100 million, sources said.

Michael Smith, managing director of Jones Lang LaSalle, which is selling the development on behalf of The Blackstone Group, confirmed that the company picked a buyer on March 2, but he would disclose the buyer's name or the price, citing confidentiality agreements.

Russia Wharf, a historic redevelopment site slated for mixed-use development, has been at the center of a bidding war that included such players as Tishman Speyer Properties, the Related Cos. and Hines Interests LP.

Michael Cantalupa, a senior vice president at Boston Properties declined to comment.



Link
 
Is he wrong?

First office tower since last recession? Is Scotty right?

Boston Properties bid wins Russia Wharf rights

By Scott Van Voorhis, The Boston Herald

Boston Properties has won a bidding war for the development rights to what could be the Hub?s next big tower complex, executives familiar with the deal said.

Boston Properties is in talks to buy the development rights to the 31-story Russia Wharf project, having beaten out several other real estate players in a bidding competition, executives said.

Boston Properties, owner of the Prudential Center complex in the Back Bay and major towers in New York and across the country, may pay up to $100 million for the rights, executives said.

The deal would give Boston Properties control of a city-approved tower plan, one that calls for 400,000 square feet of new offices, as well as hundreds of condos and hotel rooms.

That could enable Boston Properties to act fast and be the first to build a new office tower in Boston since the last recession. The developer who manages to be the ?first out of the ground? in starting construction could hold a crucial advantage in wooing corporate tenants, said Frank Petz, senior director at CBRE Melody, a Boston-based real estate financier.

Boston Properties took a similar approach in the late 1990s. The company?s 111 Huntington tower at the Pru, the first built after the early 1990s, lured blue-chip tenants like Bain Capital.
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