LOWELL, MA - Atlanta-headquartered ARA, the largest privately held, full-service investment advisory brokerage firm in the nation focusing exclusively on the multihousing industry, recently brokered the sale of Cabot Crossing, a 252-unit market rate community located off of I-495 in Lowell, MA. ARA New England brokers Terence Scott, Richard Robinson, Philip Lamere, and Jennifer Athas exclusively represented the seller, John M. Corcoran and procured the buyer, Water Street Investments.
Although it is located outside the 128 corridor, Cabot Crossing saw excellent investor response due to its convenient location at the juncture of I-495 and Route 3. The area surrounding the property boasts an impressive roster of high-tech, finance, and manufacturing employers including Motorola, JPMorgan Chase, Metropolitan Life, PlumChoice, and Verizon, as well as IBM, Lucent Technologies, Cisco Systems, Sonus Networks and Kronos Incorporated. Cabot Crossing provides residents with incredible access to all of the lifestyle amenities that the I-495 North region has to offer, including proximity to shopping, major hospitals, outstanding schools and cultural venues.
“It is ARA’s experience that investors and equity providers are shifting their focus from urban Boston and the inner suburbs to well-located suburban product such as Cabot Crossing” said Terry Scott, Senior Vice President for ARA New England. “This shift in focus is the result of low-yields as a result of intense competition for urban assets and a burgeoning urban development pipeline, which has driven cap rates to sub-5 levels for those urban assets.”
According to Phillip Bakalchuk (President, Water Street Investments), “Cabot Crossing is a unique garden property in the otherwise urban fabric of Lowell. We offer an unbeatable complement of amenities such as tennis courts, swimming pool and spa, all in a garden setting along the Concord River, and at lower rents than surrounding communities”. “We really like properties like Cabot Crossing because the modest unit sizes allow us to gradually increase rents while remaining affordable to the widest range of potential residents, says Morgan Hanlon of Casey Real Estate Investments, which teamed up with Water Street Investments for this investment. In response to the recovering employment market, the lack of competitive product in the area, and the reduction of operating expenses, Water Street anticipates delivering double-digit cash returns to investors.
Cabot Crossing, built in 1987, is comprised of seven buildings with a modern clubhouse featuring a large swimming pool and fitness center. The unit mix consists of 28 studios, 168 one bedrooms and 56 two bedrooms. At the time of close, the property was 97% occupied.
To schedule an interview with an ARA executive regarding this transaction or for more information about ARA, nationally please contact Lisa Robinson at lrobinson@ARAusa.com, 678.553.9360 or Amy Morris at amorris@ARAusa.com, 678.553.9366; locally, Kaitlyn Fox, at kfox@ARAusa.com or 781.238.4819.
About ARA
Atlanta-headquartered ARA is the largest privately held, full-service investment advisory firm in the nation that focuses exclusively on the brokerage, financing and capital sourcing of multihousing properties including conventional, affordable, distressed assets, notes sales, seniors, student & manufactured housing and multihousing land. ARA is comprised of the country’s top investment professionals who leverage a unique and fully integrated cooperative business platform of shared information, relationships and technology driven solutions. ARA’s unified enterprise approach ensures that clients are delivered the broadest asset exposure, effective matching of buyers and sellers, and the shortest transaction timeframes in the industry. The combination of resources, unparalleled market expertise and nationwide presence in the multihousing marketplace resulted in an annual production volume of $9.5 billion in real estate transactions in 2012. For detailed information on ARA’s extensive multihousing investment services, visit www.arausa.com