BOSTON – Boston Realty Advisors, the Boston area’s largest independent commercial real estate brokerage, represented Audubon Road Associates in the sale of Shawomet Gardens, a community of 240 handsome garden residences in Somerset, MA.
The apartments, in 60 well-maintained brick buildings with extensive green space over 12 acres, were built in the late 1940s by the U.S. Government and have been owned for decades by the same family.
“The amount of interest we received in this offering was immense, which exemplifies the appetite the capital markets have for value-add multifamily,” said Kevin Benzinger, Managing Director of Boston Realty Advisors, who led the sales process. “Our team focuses on identifying outlier buyers for our clients, and the result with this transaction proves that.”
At a time when high interest rates have slowed real property transactions, Boston Realty Advisors advised the owners over about four months, leading to the closing of the sale of the market-rate apartments on Oct. 8.
It appears the Federal Reserve's interest rate cut of half a percent in September has produced momentum that is jump-starting the market. The mid-4-percent cap rate in this transaction seems to be an illustration of that positive trend.
The buyer, SMG Real Estate, is a private real estate company with a large portfolio in New England. The purchase was financed by Wells Fargo Bank.
Shawomet Gardens, north of Fall River, is already benefitting from the South Coast Rail expansion of MBTA Commuter Rail line to Fall River, where the first of several stations has been constructed. The existing Middleborough/Lakeville Commuter Rail Line is being extended from Boston to Taunton, Fall River and New Bedford.
Over the last 15 years, improvements have been made to Shawomet Gardens base buildings, and the property has been well maintained. The roofs have been replaced. The new owner has indicated plans to continue building improvements, including within units, and to add resident amenities that buildings of the mid-20th century typically did not have.
Shawomet Gardens offices are at 102 Shawomet Ave. in Somerset.
