The Back Bay area is once again extremely profitable. There is a booming commercial property market and luxury residential listings are receiving offers after being on the market for as little as twenty-four hours. After the initial downturn from the recession, the market for commercial and office real estate in Back Bay is once again incredibly robust--with pricings back to 2007 rates ($80 per square foot, and rising) and the area has the lowest vacancy rate in the city--4.7%.
Investors are taking notice--and now Back Bay's shoppers, professionals and residents will benefit from all the changes that are taking place. In the fall of 2011, Atlanta-based Jamestown Properties invested heavily in Boston's very own Newbury Street. The company paid a whopping $226 million for a 130,000 spread that spans over twenty-eight buildings. The company now owns fifteen percent of Newbury Street, and their $4.7 million dollar renovation of 234 and 236 Newbury is projected to finish this winter. Jamestown is investing another five million dollars in renovations and new projects set to take place over the next five years. The company's new developments are creating almost 16,000 square feet of retail space, and a total of fifty luxury residences.
Visitors and locals will also soon be noticing massive amounts of construction---as Jamestown Properties isn't the only one to notice the extreme profitability of the Back Bay area. Liberty Mutual is constructing a $300 million office building, AvalonBay Communities is developing a $100 million, twenty-eight story, 188 unit residential building, the Simon Group is planning a $500 million development and expansion of Copley Place Mall, and there is a new 49,000 square foot building being built on Newbury that will house a three-story Chanel store, parking garage, and six new luxury residences.
So, Boston shoppers---be on the lookout for all these changes and new retail locations!! We are sure there will be some surprises in store for us in the coming year, and can't wait to see who joins us here on Newbury Street.