Cambridge Crossing (NorthPoint) | East Cambridge/Charlestown | Cambridge/Boston

[RugbyGod]

Re: NorthPoint Cambridge (The one that was train yards, the big plan.)

I was more thinking of Jonny Wilkinson or One of the Underwood brothers.

RugbyGod? Who do you think you are, Tana Umaga?

just playin with ya

 

[RugbyGod]

Re: NorthPoint Cambridge (The one that was train yards, the big plan.)

I assume the condo association is for both buildings. What kind of contingencies does the condo association have, if there the buyer for the northpoint property falls through? I am also interested in northpoint, but I am worried about the fact that whole development has gone awry. Without development back on track, I feel that it might be the only thing on that area for awhile.

We just had our first condo meeting tonight. There are 37 persons who have already moved in with more that have signed purchase and sales agreements. Sierra is One Earhart and Tango is Two Earhart. There is an interested buyer for the NorthPoint property who has signed a purchase and sales agreement but they could not disclose the buyer's name. If all goes well the property will be sold within 45 days. We usually find out about this stuff in the Boston Globe or Herald before it is official. The area is pretty safe at night but I would only use the park during the daytime.

 

[Lrfox]

Re: NorthPoint Cambridge (The one that was train yards, the big plan.)

I drove by here tonite around 530 pm and it looked well occupied,with the top all lit up to match!

Wait... isn't the taller one with the well-lit top the Archstone Building? I thought the 2 (completed) Northpoint buildings were next door and a completely different entity? I'm confused.

 

[JimboJones]

Re: NorthPoint Cambridge (The one that was train yards, the big plan.)

Yes, you are right, Lrfox. Northpoint bldgs don't "soar".

 

[Boston02124]

Re: NorthPoint Cambridge (The one that was train yards, the big plan.)

Wait... isn't the taller one with the well-lit top the Archstone Building? I thought the 2 (completed) Northpoint buildings were next door and a completely different entity? I'm confused.

that makes 2 of us I thought they all were North Point buildings?

 

[RugbyGod]

Re: NorthPoint Cambridge (The one that was train yards, the big plan.)

Technically, I think all three buildings that are currently in that development area can be all lumped into Northpoint.

However, The "tall soaring" building is a rental building that is built by Archstone. I think it is called Archstone Northpoint or something like that.

I was mainly concerned with the two other buildings that are smaller than the Archstone Northpoint building that are condominiums. These two buildings are opposite from Thomas Landing Condominiums (they are the closest two buildings from the T station).

Hope this helps.

that makes 2 of us I thought they all were North Point buildings?

 

[statler]

Re: NorthPoint Cambridge (The one that was train yards, the big plan.)

I think this is the right thread.


Banker & Tradesman - January 12, 2009

Berkeley Investments Backs Off NorthPoint Project Takeover

Real Estate Market?s Downward Spiral, Cost Of Bonding KO?d Deal
By Paul McMorrow
Banker & Tradesman Staff Writer

Berkeley Investments, the Boston-based developers behind FP3 and Worcester?s CitySquare, have backed out of a deal to take over development of the 45-acre NorthPoint project in East Cambridge, Banker & Tradesman has learned.

Berkeley Investments President Young Park said in mid-December his firm was interested in taking over the mega-development, but was still examining the deal?s financials. Officials from Berkeley and North Point?s majority partner, Pan Am Railways, did not return repeated calls for comment, but four sources close to the development said the deal is dead. Those sources said the real estate market?s rapid deterioration and the ballooning cost of bonding conspired to push the cost of taking on the multi-billion dollar project outside Berkeley?s margins.

When completed, NorthPoint will encompass 5 million square feet over 19 city blocks, and include 2.2 million square feet of commercial/office space, 150,000 square feet of retail, and 2,700 residential units. Just two residential buildings have gone vertical ? the 8-story, 99-unit Sierra building, and the 12-story, 230-unit Tango. The Collaborative Companies, which is marketing the condominiums, said 45 units have sold, with three under agreement. Collaborative is averaging two to three closings per month.

Extension Complication
NorthPoint is critical to the planned MBTA Green Line extension to Somerville and Medford. Pan Am originally committed to building a new, $70 million Lechmere station to accommodate the Green Line?s new path. That station was originally supposed to open in 2010. However, in the face of internal squabbling between Pan Am and Jones Lang LaSalle (which acquired Pan Am?s local development partner Spaulding & Slye), state transportation officials seized control of the new station?s design and buildout. Beacon Hill insiders privately doubt the state can afford to foot the bill for the new station without outside help.

That?s why Pan Am?s flirtation with Berkeley may have long-felt consequences for NorthPoint?s neighbors. This past summer, Forest City Boston, a division of Cleveland-based Forest City Enterprises, emerged as a strong, interested bidder. Forest City was seen as willing to fund the T station ? Berkeley was not. But Berkeley also narrowly outbid Forest City. Pan Am chased the extra few million dollars, and then the capital markets shifted. So now, the railroad is where it started ? stuck with a piece of land it doesn?t want and can?t afford to build on.

Sources said it?s unlikely now that any developer could restart the project without help from state or federal stimulus funding.

Forest City?s interest in the parcel predates the current failed bid, and the firm appears to remain interested ? at the right price.

?It?s a good piece of land in the long term,? said Frank Wuest, president of Forest City Boston. He quickly added, ?Who knows what?s going to happen in today?s market??

The failed sale is just the latest setback in NorthPoint?s long and troubled history. When developers broke ground in 2005, it was estimated to be a 15-year project. But now, at the beginning of 2009, the original completion date of 2020 seems exceedingly optimistic. Two years after the groundbreaking, no buildings were occupied, and the project?s partners were battling each other in a Delaware courtroom. NorthPoint?s owners announced in November 2007, that Texas-based Archon had agreed to buy the project for $175 million. But Archon, which is affiliated with Goldman Sachs, began trying to extricate itself from that deal soon afterward, and the deal was dead by the spring of 2008. The sale was also complicated by legislative wrangling over the state?s Chapter 91 tidelands regulations. In holding up the tidelands bill, area legislators specifically invoked the desire to subject NorthPoint to additional public review.

 

[vanshnookenraggen]

Re: NorthPoint Cambridge (The one that was train yards, the big plan.)

*sigh*

Why can't we have nice things?

 

[czsz]

Re: NorthPoint Cambridge (The one that was train yards, the big plan.)

[crickets chirping]

 

[vanshnookenraggen]

Re: NorthPoint Cambridge (The one that was train yards, the big plan.)

I moved all the economy talk here.

 

[RugbyGod]

Re: NorthPoint Cambridge (The one that was train yards, the big plan.)

Now, what does this really mean for the Northpoint? only 45 are sold out of about 300 odd condos. I know the city of cambridge is marketing 30 odd units to affordable homeownership. Including those, only about less than 30% of the condos are sold at Northpoint. As a first time and new buyer, does it make sense to buy a condo at Northpoint with all the development issues?

 

[vanshnookenraggen]

Re: NorthPoint Cambridge (The one that was train yards, the big plan.)

That's the real question. Of what I've see the apartments are very nice. It still is a great location, transportation wise and you got the Galleria right there. But the idea that none of the amenities will be built anytime soon puts a damper on the whole thing. If I was buying I'd hold off until I knew they were going to start building the rest of it.

 

[kennedy]

Re: NorthPoint Cambridge (The one that was train yards, the big plan.)

If it's a really attractive price for your range, I'd go ahead and do it, even without the guarantee of amenities in the short term. Live there, and in the long run, when the economy manages to pull itself back together, sell it for a fairly big profit. Or maybe they'll finish amenities and you'll love it, who knows?

 

[underground]

Re: NorthPoint Cambridge (The one that was train yards, the big plan.)

The whole development is in a kinda funny area. There are tons of amenities across the street, but nothing right there. Not knowing what's going to happen in the immediate area would make me nervous to buy, but I don't think you can ever go wrong with something that's moderatly priced and walkable to downtown. Furthermore, even if the development itself never gets fully built out, all the other stuff across the street isn't going anywhere.

 

[jass]

Re: NorthPoint Cambridge (The one that was train yards, the big plan.)

For a stalled project, they do a really good job with the park. Its not finished though, but its more open than it was a year ago

 

[riffgo]

Re: NorthPoint Cambridge (The one that was train yards, the big plan.)

That park looks very bleak and anti-urban to me. I hope future plans include building upon some of this no-man's-land.

 

[Bubbybu]

Re: NorthPoint Cambridge (The one that was train yards, the big plan.)

that park is never ever going to have the kind of foot traffic that would necessitate its existence

better to build on the land in a few years....

 

[jass]

Re: NorthPoint Cambridge (The one that was train yards, the big plan.)

that park is never ever going to have the kind of foot traffic that would necessitate its existence

better to build on the land in a few years....

If the entire complex is built out as planned, then I think there will be enough people.

Until then, its a very nice quiet spot very close to downtown. Not having people can be good for the 2 or 3 that want to enjoy emptiness

 

[statler]

Re: NorthPoint Cambridge (The one that was train yards, the big plan.)

Banker & Tradesman - July 13, 2009

Call It ?NoPoint?
New Lechmere Station Is The Least Of Troubled NorthPoint Project?s Woes

By Paul McMorrow

Banker & Tradesman Staff Writer

Forget that $70 million MBTA station. When it comes to building out Cambridge?s troubled NorthPoint project, relocating Lechmere Station won?t be the half of any developer?s worries. That?s because new internal documents show the public infrastructure tab on the project is a staggering $257 million.

Pan Am Railways and the NorthPoint Cambridge Land Co. (populated by former Spaulding & Slye executives), the developers of the 5 million-square-foot East Cambridge development, have tried and failed to unload their land and development rights twice since late 2007. Archon Group took a long look at the project in late 2007, for a price of $175 million, but ultimately backed out. Last December, Boston?s Berkeley Investments followed suit. In that case, the developers had an offer of $103 million on the table, but held out for Berkeley?s offer of $106.5 million.

In both cases, concern over the cost of the project?s massive infrastructure requirements helped derail a possible sale. (Prolonged legal wrangling over NorthPoint?s land titles hasn?t helped, either.)


Incredible Infrastructure Increase

Internal documents, obtained by Banker & Tradesman through a state public records request, shed new light onto the infrastructure liability NorthPoint?s developers are asking any new buyer to assume. Those liabilities continue to dampen the project?s price.

A November 2008 memo from a Berkeley consultant lays out total infrastructure costs that are more than twice the cost of rebuilding Lechmere Station ? a project that Pan Am and NorthPoint Cambridge had agreed to assume, and which state leaders are now vowing to pin on the developers? successors.

The Berkeley memo sketches out more than $257 million in infrastructure costs associated with the project; the new T station only accounts for $111 million of that sum. The rest of that tab consists of considerable work to Monsignor O?Brien Highway and First Street, new roads and utilities inside the project?s perimeter, parking, bonding fees and carrying costs. $20 million of this work has already been completed, but $237 million remains outstanding, and will become the responsibility of whichever developer eventually buys out Pan Am and NorthPoint Cambridge.

The development partnership?s best shot at unloading NorthPoint was to Archon. At the time of that proposed sale, the real estate markets were slowing, but capital markets and demand for new commercial construction had not yet collapsed. Notably, even at that point, the project?s infrastructure bill eclipsed its $175 million price tag. When Berkeley was studying the feasibility of its offer, costs associated with the Green Line topped the firm?s land acquisition costs, while the project?s total infrastructure costs more than doubled Berkeley?s land costs.

When real estate values were rocketing skyward, developers of large-scale projects could afford to foot public infrastructure costs, because they were essentially trading new public infrastructure for increased density. Increased density translated to drastically increased profits. The calculus was a boon to both developers and local officials, who enjoyed new amenities without paying for their construction.


No Support

That math doesn?t work anymore. The few developers who are still pushing ahead with new construction are doing so with drastically increased equity requirements and steeper borrowing costs. Falling residential values and commercial rents have taken huge chunks out of their margins. Higher costs and lower earnings, taken together, no longer support the private creation of public infrastructure.

But cash-strapped local officials have little ability to fund new infrastructure, either. As a result, they?re continuing to demand boom-time concessions. That?s why NorthPoint?s $237 million infrastructure bill is enough to scare any would-be developer. Construction and materials costs have fallen sharply in the past six months, but NorthPoint?s feuding owners are unlikely to sell for a price below $100 million. A sale will likely wait until commercial demand has returned. And demand?s return could very well drive up construction costs again.

It?s worth noting that NorthPoint?s infrastructure costs dwarf the costs of the local development projects that will be receiving federal stimulus infrastructure funding. The $1.5 billion Westwood Station project involves $73 million in public infrastructure improvements. Somerville?s Assembly Square project managers have asked state leaders for $33.7 million in infrastructure aid. At SouthField in Weymouth, the request stands at $57 million. Revere?s Waterfront Square has asked for $52 million. Two other projects, in downtown Lowell and Jackson Square, Roxbury, have not yet received the administration?s blessing, but are considered good candidates for stimulus funding; their infrastructure requests stand at $22 million and $7 million, respectively.

In Worcester, Berkeley Investments is pushing ahead with the first phase of its $550 million mixed-use CitySquare project. It?s able to proceed because public entities are fronting that project?s $94 million infrastructure bill.

Berkeley asked state officials to help them shoulder NorthPoint?s unwieldy infrastructure tab last November. The development firm sketched out a proposal in which the public would assume $134 million in NorthPoint?s infrastructure costs, including the work on the Green Line and the O?Brien Highway; the remaining $123 million would be funded through a public/private partnership, similar to the arrangement Berkeley is employing in Worcester. An administration official characterized the conversation as preliminary, adding that no further conversations occurred with Greg Bailecki, the state?s secretary of housing and economic development.


Extension Extinction?

NorthPoint?s troubles have set the relocation of the Green Line?s Lechmere Station back several years. That, in turn, has threatened the entirety of the $600 million Green Line extension to Somerville and Medford, which the state is legally mandated to complete by the end of 2014.

Development activity at NorthPoint has been at a halt since shortly after its first phase broke ground, in 2005. Its developers envisioned building a 5 million-square-foot mixed use mini-city, including 2.2 million square feet of commercial space, 150,000 square feet of retail and 2,700 residential units.

The partnership began splintering in 2006, though, and broke apart completely in early 2007. In March of that year, Pan Am sued NorthPoint Cambridge in Suffolk Superior Court. A month later, NorthPoint Cambridge returned the favor, dragging Pan Am into a Delaware courtroom. That litigation is ongoing. Just two residential buildings on the development site have gone vertical: the 8-story, 99-unit Sierra building, and the 12-story, 230-unit Tango. Sales at both buildings have been sluggish.

 

[vanshnookenraggen]

Re: NorthPoint Cambridge (The one that was train yards, the big plan.)

Sigh... this is what you get when you try to get something for nothing (talking about the infrastructure.)