Courtesy of Tim Logan of the Boston Globe

An artist's rendering of the Fenway Center project, being built with air rights above the Massachusetts Turnpike. DESIGN DISTILL STUDIO

The drive into downtown Boston from the west is about to change forever. So is the walk from Kenmore Square over to Fenway Park.

That’s because work is set to begin imminently on the long-planned Fenway Center project, which will put a two-acre deck, followed by a 350-foot tower, above the Massachusetts Turnpike between Brookline Avenue and Beacon Street. It’s a development two decades in the planning that promises to transform the western edge of the city’s core, knitting together two neighborhoods that have long been split by a highway.

Late Friday afternoon, the developers — a partnership of Beverly-based Meredith Management and the life-sciences developer IQHQ — closed on a $55 million deal to lease so-called air rights from the Massachusetts Department of Transportation. Now they’ll get to work on the deck, a two-year project that involves driving about 500 piles into the sides and median of the Mass. Pike, then laying 90,000 square feet of steel over them to serve as the base for a massive complex of buildings.

“It’s a very ambitious project, obviously. It’s complicated, it’s time-consuming,” said IQHQ’s chief investment officer, John Bonanno. “And we feel it’s transformational, reconnecting Back Bay to the Fenway where the highway has separated them for a very long time.”

It’s the largest project of its kind since Copley Place was built in the early 1980s, and the second underway on the Mass. Pike now. A half-mile east of Fenway Center is a project known as Parcel 12, where developer Samuels & Associates started work last summer on a deck that will hold an office building, hotel, and plaza along the western side of Massachusetts Avenue.

That project already requires that one lane be closed each way on the Pike, closures that will be extended for, and coordinated with, Fenway Center’s. It effectively means the turnpike will narrow to three lanes near Boston University, rather than around Mass. Ave., where it did before construction on the air-rights projects began.

So far, the Parcel 12 lane closings have had little impact on traffic, said Scott Bosworth, undersecretary of transportation and chief strategy officer at MassDOT. Travel on the Pike is still 40 percent below pre-pandemic levels, but Bosworth said he expects the lane closures won’t be a problem even as more commuters get back on the road.

“We’re confident that the traffic management plan, the highway management plan, is a good one,” he said. “It will not lead to any substantial impacts to the motoring public.”

Closing the deal is a victory for the transportation agency, which has seen a number of air-rights projects stumble over the years due to their engineering and economic complexities. But under Governor Charlie Baker, MassDOT has tried to streamline its approval process, and now work is underway on large projects at Parcel 12 and above the tracks at South Station. Fenway Center would be the third. The developers’ $55 million upfront lease payment is the largest such deal MassDOT has yet made.

“We’re creating revenue from the taxpayers’ assets, and that’s important,” Bosworth said. “We’re also creating opportunities [to build] where there aren’t any.”

It is also a huge win for developer John Rosenthal, who has been working on the Fenway Center project for two decades, through multiple administrations on Beacon Hill and in City Hall. His Meredith Management firm has already financed and built Lansdowne Station on the commuter rail, which opened in 2014, as well as a pair of mid-rise apartment buildings that opened last year next to the train station.

Now he’ll get to start work on the main course: a million-square-foot tower aimed at life-sciences companies a structure that will pop on the city’s skyline and transform a windswept canyon between Kenmore Square and Fenway Park.

“It’s kind of the pinnacle of this vision,” Rosenthal said. “It really is a new gateway into Boston.”

To make it happen, Rosenthal had to flip his plans for the tower from housing to lab space, to bring in the kind of deep-pocketed partners who could finance the billion-dollar price tag. That’s IQHQ, a California life-sciences development company led by the founder of an industry giant, BioMed Realty.

IQHQ, which has raised $2.5 billion in equity in less than two years, will pay for construction of the $200 million deck, then seek financing for the tower. It’s a huge bet, Bonanno acknowledged, but one the firm is happy to make, given Fenway Center’s proximity to the Longwood Medical Area and the huge demand for life-sciences space in Boston.

Still, the developers are building without a tenant, in part because the four-year process of constructing the deck and tower means the project will open too far in the future for companies to commit to leasing space. Marketing is likely to start in earnest once the deck starts to take shape.

Real estate analysts say there is demand on the horizon for millions of square feet of lab space, powered by the investment that’s pouring into drug companies in the Boston area.

There’s a lot of lab space coming, too, with projects planned or underway throughout Greater Boston. But few, Bonanno said, are like this one, with its proximity to both Longwood and Kendall Square, on top of a commuter rail station, and steps from Fenway Park and a quickly changing Kenmore Square.

“It’s really unique,” he said. “There are lots of well-conceived projects in good locations, but there aren’t many that will be as do as much for an area as Fenway Center . . . When you go underneath our project you’ll know that you’ve arrived in Boston.”

Tim Marsh

Co-Owner | Broker

Marsh Properties, Inc.

tim@bostonluxuryrealestate.com

617-548-7145

Rarely Available Luxury One-Bedroom Home at the World-Class Four Seasons!

Click for Video Tour

Residence 1214 is a large, 971 SF masterfully renovated one bedroom, two bath condominium with desirable South-facing location near the elevators. Features: Foyer with coat closet. Spacious 17’ living/dining room. Cook’s kitchen with Scavolini cabinets, Wolf, Mieli and Subzero appliances. Spacious master bedroom offers a luxurious en-suite bathroom, walk-in closet and custom cabinetry. Second bath with glass-door shower stall. One self park or valet garage space. Private storage. Laundry in unit.  List Price:  $1,695,000

 

        

The Four Seasons at 220 Boylston, a tier-1 doorman building, offers world-class services and one of Boston’s most valuable addresses across from the Public Garden. Building services include 24/7 concierge, doorman, valet, porter and garage parking. Elevator and gorgeous common area renovations in process! Residents amenities include complimentary fitness center and spa with lap pool overlooking the Public Garden. In-room dining, daily coffee service and dinner dining in the Four Seasons Hotel available. Steps to the Newbury Street shops and restaurants, Boston Common, Theatre District, Charles river & Esplanade and the Downtown and Back Bay Business Districts. 

Click for Floor Plan

Contact Tim Marsh at 617-548-7145 or tim@bostonluxuryrealestate.com

Postcard views of the Public Garden and Beyond!

Price Reduced by $425,000 to $5,540,000 For a Timely Sale!

Rare 2,492 SF floor-thru penthouse offering with three exposures is a great buy at just $2,223 per square foot!  Enjoy 35' of frontage with panoramic views of the Public Garden from the expansive 24' living room and terrace. Cook's kitchen outfitted with burled maple cabinets, granite counters and Miele & SubZero appliances.  Palatial master bedroom with 5-piece marble bath en-suite, two W-I closets and a 2nd terrace. Guest bedroom with en-suite full bathroom. Powder room. Laundry. One garage space. One large storage room.  Note: This floor plan has been configured with 3BR's in other un

         

         

The Heritage On The Garden, a tier-1 doorman building, offers world-class services and one of Boston’s most valuable addresses across from the Public Garden. Building services include 24/7 concierge, doorman and Major Domo. Resident amenities include a complimentary daily tea and Sunday brunch in the Great Library overlooking the Public Garden, daily coffee service, caterers kitchen and dining/meeting room. Coveted location adjacent to the Newbury Street shops and restaurants and the Downtown and Back Bay Business Districts. 

 

Contact Tim Marsh for more info and a private showing.

(C) 617-548-7145

tim@bostonluxuryrealestate.com

Luxury Living at the world-class Heritage On The Garden!  

Gorgeous 2,200 SF 2 bedroom+, 2.5 bath residence accessed from the Center Belvedere elevators. Stunning views of the Boston Public Garden Swan Pond and Suspension Bridge from the living room and both bedrooms.  Palatial 24’ living room with wide bow window.  Gorgeous chef’s kitchen with S/S Wolf, Miele and Subzero appliances, marble counters and banquette seating.  Spacious interior dining/family room.  Master bedroom suite with two W-I closets and five-piece marble bath.  Guest bedroom suite with custom built-ins and full bath.  Powder room. Laundry room. Two full garage spaces. One storage room.  List Price:  $5,195,000

 

      

Building services include 24/7 concierge, doorman, Major Domo and garage parking. Resident amenities include a complimentary daily tea and Sunday brunch in the Great Library overlooking the Public Garden, daily coffee service, caterers kitchen and dining/meeting room. (Note: these services are not offered during the Coronavirus).  Coveted location adjacent to the Newbury Street shops and restaurants, Theatre District and the Downtown and Back Bay Business Districts. 

 

Contact Tim Marsh for more information and a private viewing.

(C) 617-548-7145

tim@bostonluxuryrealestate.com

 

Click this link for more info and a video tour:  https://www.bostonluxuryrealestate.com/listing/72766226/2-avery-boston-ma-02111/

New Exclusive Listing!  Residence 24B is a pristine 1,032 SF two bedroom, two bath home. Enjoy spectacular moon and sun rises along with postcard views of the Boston skyline and Harbor from the 10’x7’ picture windows. Welcoming entry foyer with two large closets. Spacious 20’x13’ living/dining room with stunning views. Cook’s kitchen with granite counters and stainless steel Thermador, Bosch and Subzero appliances. Spacious 20’ master bedroom suite with postcard views and a luxurious glass-tile en-suite bathroom. Second bedroom with gorgeous views and an adjacent pristine marble shower-stall bath. Chevron patterned Brazilian cherry floors. W/D. One valet garage space. 

The Ritz Carlton, a premier Tier-1 luxury doorman building, offers world-class services and one of Boston’s most valuable addresses adjacent to the Boston Common and Financial District. Building services include 24/7 concierge, doorman and valet garage parking. Resident amenities include elevator access to the 100,000 SF Equinox Sports club with pool, the five star Ritz Hotel lobby, two restaurants, a café, two bars and two boutiques. Rare 60 hours of complimentary quest parking per month. 

List Price:  $1,290,000

         

 

For more information or a to schedule a private viewing contact

Cheryl Marsh

Owner/Broker

(C) 617-797-5781

cheryl@bostonluxuryrealestate.com

Click this link for more info and a video tour of this luxury condominium:  https://www.bostonluxuryrealestate.com/listing/72766070/220-boylston-boston-ma-02116/

New Exclusive Listing!  Residence 1214 is a large, 971 SF masterfully renovated one bedroom, two bath condominium with a desirable South-facing floor location. Features: Foyer with coat closet. Spacious 17’ living/dining room. Cook’s kitchen with Scavolini cabinets, Wolf, Mieli and Subzero appliances. Spacious master bedroom offers a luxurious en-suite bathroom, walk-in closet and custom cabinetry. Second bath with glass-door shower stall. One self park or valet garage space. Private storage. W/D.

The Four Seasons at 220 Boylston, a tier-1 doorman building, offers world-class services and one of Boston’s most valuable addresses across from the Public Garden. Building services include 24/7 concierge, doorman, available housekeeping, and garage parking. Resident amenities include complimentary fitness center and spa with lap pool overlooking the Public Garden, dining in the Four Seasons Hotel and in-room dining (some services limited or suspended during Covid-10). Coveted location adjacent to the Newbury Street shops and restaurants, Theatre District and the Downtown and Back Bay Business Districts. 

List Price:  $1,795,000

           

For more information or a to schedule a private viewing contact

Tim Marsh

Owner/Broker

(C) 617-548-7145

tim@bostonluxuryrealestate.com

 

Click this link to take a video tour:  https://www.bostonluxuryrealestate.com/listing/72770628/300-boylston-boston-ma-02116/

New Exclusive Listing!  Full service living in this stunning 2,492 SF penthouse home at the world-class Heritage On The Garden, across from the Boston Public Garden! Masterful renovation includes cabinetry by London's Mark Wilkinson and intricate architectural detail by Woodmeister. Postcard views of the Public Garden and beyond from the 35' wide fireplaced Living room and step-out terrace.  Dedicated dining area with picture window and window seat. Cook's kitchen outfitted with burled maple cabinets, granite counters, excellent cabinet storage, Miele & SubZero S/S appliances and a window.  Two bedrooms were combined to create a palatial master bedroom with five-piece marble bath en-suite and two large W-I closets. Guest bedroom with en-suite full bathroom. Powder room. Laundry. One garage space. One large storage room. 

Boasting one of Boston's most valuable addresses, the Heritage is steps from the Boston Common, Newbury Street shops and restaurants, Charles River and Esplanade, Back Bay, Beacon Hill and the Back Bay and Downtown Business Districts. Complimentary services include daily coffee service, daily tea service and Sunday brunch in the Great Library overlooking the Public Garden (suspended during Covid-19).  On-site management, 24/7 Concierge, Doorman and Major Domo services.

List Price:  $5,965,000

 

         

 

For more info or to schedule a private viewing, contact:

Tim Marsh

Owner/Broker

(C) 617-548-7145.com

tim@bostonluxuryrealestate

Courtesy of Andrea Brambila - Inman News.

      

Record-low mortgage rates, skyrocketing buyer demand, and shrinking inventory have pushed the housing market's busy season forward through at least the end of the year.

Record-low mortgage interest rates, the increased need for more spacious, multifunctional homes during the coronavirus pandemic, and timelines that no longer necessarily revolve around the start of the school year have fueled homebuyer demand so much that fall is looking more like a new spring in the housing market this year.

“This spring was like no other,” Brian Rubenstein, senior director of mortgage at online lender Ally Home, told Inman in a phone interview. “The pandemic and the market dislocations were quite unprecedented.”

Due to the pandemic, the Federal Reserve has kept interest rates low in an effort to shore up a faltering economy, and rates for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages have been hovering around 3 percent. This week, National Association of Realtors Chief Economist Lawrence Yun declared that 2020’s housing market was outperforming 2019’s housing market and predicted that this year’s home sales would end up higher than the 5.34 million homes sold in 2019.

Rubenstein doesn’t expect rates to rise and that means that the market will likely see what he called an “extended spring cycle.”

“We’ve begun to see a steady increase in people hitting the market, inventory remains lower than usual, but at the same time, with demand being so high, we’re seeing the average home price jump dramatically.

“For the first time we’re also seeing the new entrants into the market — first time homebuyers — not really being scared off by that. They’re really looking to settle in and really begin their home purchase journey, given everything that’s happened in the current landscape.”

Ally saw a delay in the spring market that lasted about two months. Whereas the market typically starts heating up in March as homebuyers figure out where they want to be for the following school year, this year it wasn’t until May that mortgage application volume started picking up, according to Rubenstein.

“Our app volume’s up close to 160 percent of where it was year over year. The purchase market has begun to pick up steam as the refi wave continues to dwindle a little bit,” he said.

Although Ally declined to share raw numbers, the company said the share of first-time homebuyers in July and August had grown to 60 percent of purchase volume, up from 42 percent of purchase volume in July and August 2019 — a 43 percent year-over-year increase.

Trending

“I would expect us to continue to see a steady pick up in purchase volume through the remainder of this year and … [stay] buoyed by the spring market next year,” Rubenstein said.

While there is usually a dip in mortgage volume around the holidays, whether there is one this year is up in the air, in part because people are less likely to travel extensively until there’s a vaccine, according to Rubenstein.

“If folks are not open to traveling during the holiday season, it could present an opportunity for us to continue the continued climb in the mortgage space,” he said.

Additionally, companies that are currently having their employees telecommute could decide to extend that arrangement, allowing people to ditch their previous commutes and “re-tether” themselves to an area that’s more important to them because it’s closer to relatives or a particular school, according to Rubenstein.

“It could help perpetuate … the late spring market through the fall, through the winter, into the following spring,” he said.

Because school is unlikely to be solely in-person, that could encourage families to move around more as well.

“If the caregiver or parent is remote, and the child is either remote, or there are going to be multiple options in the future for children to facilitate learning, whether it’s through virtual or e-learning, that provides a lot more flexibility optionality for folks when they’re making home purchase decisions,” Rubenstein said.

“People are going to be thinking about that probably in a different way, given the landscape of the environment. I think that could help further stimulate this market that we’re seeing now and continue on at least through some point next year.”

Real estate data firm CoreLogic saw home prices rise 5.5 percent year over year in July — the highest rate since 2018. Real estate brokerage Redfin saw home prices rise even more in the markets it operates in — 8.2 percent — canceling outa 6.9 percent increase in buyer purchasing power due to low mortgage rates. The firm attributed the price increases to a combination of low inventory and high buyer demand.

Instead of experiencing their usual fall decline, home prices will at least hold at their current “record high levels” for the next quarter, according to Mike Simonsen, CEO of housing market analytics firm Altos Research. Simonsen hosted a webinar Thursday titled “The Key Data to Watch Right Now in Real Estate.”

Source: Altos Research

“Normally where we are in late summer is the high and we’re starting to reduce prices before the end of the year. We don’t want to be stuck with a home in November that’s been on the market since July, so they get cut,” he said.

“[This year] our whole seasonal reset is way lower than a normal year. Twenty-five [or] 26 percent instead of 36 [or] 37 percent of homes are taking price reductions. That’s because there’s demand in the market. That’s homes getting listed and sold quickly. That’s multiple offers, and that says that the homes that are listed now in the prices that we’ve got now hold up for transactions that happen later in September, in October, November.”

        

Source: Altos Research

That demand is being met with shrinking inventory. Altos predicts the number of single-family homes for sale will continue to drop through the end of the year.

Source: Altos Research

“We had just a couple of weeks in March of climbing inventory in 2020, and then the rest of the year when normally we’d have all this inventory increasing, inventory dropped rapidly every week from April all the way through,” Simonsen said.

“It’ll be flat for a couple of weeks here in September and then you can expect the majority to pull back. The second week of January is when we get our inventory turn. It starts the new listings for the springtime. We may be at 378,000 homes for sale for the whole country. It’s insanely low. That would be half of what a normal January would start at and like a third of what a healthy market would be.”

Source: Altos Research

Altos expects that some homes will come on the market as the first six months of mortgage forbearance end for some homeowners at the end of September. At that point, some will decide to sell their homes, but most will re-extend their forbearance period so that it ends in March, which may mean new inventory in April, according to Simonsen. Still others who are currently in forbearance but not responding to their lenders may go into foreclosure on January 1 as the current foreclosure moratorium ends, or may decide to sell to avoid foreclosure, he added.

“Because prices are high, equity is at record levels, homes are moving fast, it seems unlikely that we’re going to get a wave of foreclosures, but more likely that we might have folks that say, ‘Well, I’m going to take my cash now,'” Simonsen said.

“For Realtors that communication of the opportunity to walk away with your cash pretty quickly because demand is high is a listing opportunity to take advantage of.”

In response to a post on Inman’s Coast to Coast Facebook page, real estate pros mostly expected the fall market to be as busy as their spring normally would be.

“The [Washington D.C.-Maryland-Virginia area] has been extremely busy,” wrote Don McGlynn, associate broker at Compass. “Low inventory is resulting in a price squeeze. Things would have to change drastically for that to slow down in the fall.”

“We are still seeing low inventory and multiple offers on many homes,” he added. “30 years in the business and I have never seen this before.” But, he added, “[R]eal estate is cyclical. I think when the pandemic is over we will see more homes coming on the market. It should lead to a more balanced market.”

Some agents and brokers anticipate staying busy, but predict low inventory will stymie sales.

“In the Chicagoland market as long as people don’t have to commute to an office to work in, we will continue to see homes selling in specific price points where home buyers can have the separate living spaces to accommodate the household needs for working and education as well as greater outdoor space,” wrote Andrea Geller, a broker at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Chicago.

“For the most part I haven’t had a lull and still continue to get new opportunities with new and past clients, which is giving me a good pipeline of business,” she added. “One of many [factors] choking up listings and some buys are the courts are so behind that sales that are a result of things like divorces or estate issues are on hold until the right to sell them is there.”

Glenn Phillips, CEO of Lake Homes Realty which operates in 30 states, anticipates “above-average buyer demand continuing, and the deal flow continuing to be limited by low inventory through the [f]all.”

But he predicts the repercussions of the pandemic to hit next year. “After the stimulus money runs out (sooner or later, even if there is another round), this tempo may change as the economic scars from the pandemic will become more obvious to the markets and the economy. The election outcomes will also influence the tempo of the market next year,” he wrote.

Tim Marsh (Owner | Broker)

Marsh Properties, Inc.

tim@bostonluxuryrealestate.com

(C) 617-548-7145

          

Listed for sale on 7/13/20 by Exclusive Broker Tim Marsh, one of Boston's quintessential luxury condominiums sold and closed in just 49 days.

Full service living in this palatial 3BR, 2.5 bath residence with 2,583 interior SF at the world-class Heritage On The Garden! One of only four residences at the Heritage with a ~1,200 SF private side terrace that offers 25' of frontage on the Public Garden and postcard views! 

Elegant entry foyer. Unobstructed views of the Public Garden from the 31' wide Fp'd Living/dining room. Classic Heritage kitchen with window. Large 25'x21' master BR features a terrace, marble bath en-suite and W-I closet. Two family BR's. 2nd full bath. Powder room. Laundry closet. Two full garage spaces are included. One storage closet. 

Boasting one of Boston's most valuable addresses, the Heritage is also close to the Boston Common, Newbury Street shops and restaurants, Charles River and Esplanade and the Back Bay and Downtown Business Districts. Services include daily tea service and Sunday brunch in the Great Library overlooking the Public Garden, on-site mgmt., 24/7 Concierge, Doorman and Major Domo.

Click to see a virtual tour: Heritage 1002 Virtual Tour

Click to see more info on this property: Heritage 1002 Property info

Click to see property floor plan: Heritage 1002 Floor Plan

 

Contact Exclusive Listing Broker - Tim Marsh

(C) 617-548-7145 or tim@bostonluxuryrealestate.com

 

MLS# 72703432

Sunny 830 SF two bedroom, 3rd floor penthouse with private step-out deck and full parking space!   

Lovely 1870 row house meticulously renovated into three condominium units in 2015. 

Original historic accents blend with the modern convenience of single floor-thru living. Bow windowed living room and second bedroom overlook Eutaw St. Cooks' kitchen features granite counters, stainless steel appliances, gas cooking with vent hood, window and breakfast counter. Private master bedroom on the rear. Full bathroom includes marble accents, vanity and tub/shower combination. 

Private 19' x 8' deck off the living level with direct access to the full parking space. 

W/D in unit. Central AC. Recessed lighting throughout. Four California Closets. Gas heat and hot water. Large private storage area. 

Fabulous location in one of East Boston's most vibrant neighborhoods - historic Eagle Hill. Close to Eastie's best restaurants, including Angela's Cafe and Rino's Place, grocery store and the Airport T Station.

      

Contact Ellen Zumbado (C) 603-502-7828 or ellen@bostonluxuryrealestate.com for a private viewing.