Shorenstein, Tritower Buy R&D, Office Campus Near Boston

A joint venture acquired an almost fully leased office campus outside of Boston, with a splash of life science space to boot.

Shorenstein and Tritower Financial Group teamed up to acquire The Xchange in Bedford, Massachusetts for $96 million, Commercial Property Executive reported. The deal for the 480,000-square-foot campus at 8 Crosby Street works out to $200 per square foot.

Barings provided the joint venture with $50 million in acquisition financing.

Jumbo Capital Management was the seller of the campus. The firm was forced to take a discount from the $107.8 million purchase price it ponied up for the asset back in 2018.

Shorenstein and Tritower are acquiring a complex that’s nearly full: 99 percent occupied. Tenants at the eight-building campus include iRobot, Nyobolt, Entegris and Quanterix. The 22-acre complex is 21 miles outside of Downtown Boston and its international airport.

The complex was developed more than 50 years ago, but was upgraded prior to Jumbo Capital’s acquisition. Amenities include a yoga studio, a cafe, outdoor seating and 70,000 square feet of research and development space, surely leaned upon by the tech-centric tenants in place.

Based in San Francisco, Shorenstein has been struggling with distress, with up to 7 million square feet of its office portfolio in danger. Last month, the developer cut seven executives from the team. Brandon Shorenstein’s firm owns and manages 13.6 million square feet of real estate across the country.

Jumbo Capital typically focuses on properties catering to medical and small professional services businesses, rather than traditional office spaces. In 2023, the Quincy-based real estate investment firm bought a seven-building office portfolio in Wellesley from Haynes Management for $48.5 million.

The average price of Boston office properties since the start of the year is $259 per square foot, according to CommercialEdge, which ranks seventh highest among the 25 markets covered in the report.

— Holden Walter-Warner