No Christmas in July for Boston Properties

Boston Properties (NYSE: BXP) posted second-quarter results late Tuesday. While management spoke dreamily during the conference call of Christmas coming early, it's hard to find shareholder gifts in the quarter's numbers.

The real estate insurance trust (REIT) owns and develops office buildings in prime markets including New York, Boston, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C., and, to a lesser degree, Princeton, N.J. The Christmas allusion referred to the documented rising rents and supply constraints in key markets such as these. But Boston Properties' stocking may be hanging near the wrong fireplace.

According to the press release, as of June 30, 2007, the company's portfolio consisted of 134 properties, and the overall percentage of leased space for the 127 properties in service was 94%, down slightly form the 94.2% rate at the end of December.

Freeholders to OK contract for Massachusetts Ave. upgrades

TOMS RIVER — Widening and other improvements to Massachusetts Avenue across the Toms River-Lakewood boundary should start late this summer, with the Ocean County Board of Freeholders set to award a $1.67 million contract next week.

The more-than-a-mile stretch between Cross Street in Lakewood and Route 70 will include new turn lanes at entrances to two adult communities to ease congestion and improve safety in an area that's seeing ongoing population growth, county officials said Wednesday as the freeholders met to review their agenda for next week.

The project also will include improvements over a one-fifth mile section of Honey Locust Drive, Assistant County Engineer Frank S. Scarantino said.

Lucas Brothers Inc. of Morganville won the bid, which came in under the $2.5 million originally budgeted for the project, according to county officials. They expect the improvements will be complete by the end of the year.

Meanwhile, municipal officials in Plumsted will contribute $785,000 they have from a state Green Acres grant to help Ocean County acquire two parcels as public open space, Mayor Ronald S. Dancer told the freeholders.

Synergy Buys 133 Portland Street in Boston from Edgewood Capital Advisors

BOSTON-- Synergy announced their purchase of 133 Portland Street from Edgewood Capital Advisors, LLC. Grubb & Ellis represented the seller and procured the buyer. Karyn McFarland, Senior V.P Transaction Services, Noah Hano, V.P. Investment Services, and Anthony Biette, V.P. Investment Services, were the three Grubb and Ellis representatives involved with the transaction. The sale price was in excess of $6 million. “133 Portland St is a solid acquisition in an emerging district. This asset will complement our ownership of other assets within the Bulfinch Triangle” says Dympna Minnock, Vice President of Synergy.

Boston museum buys Forsyth property

BOSTON (AP) - The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston is buying a building and some open space in the Fenway neighborhood as part its expansion plan. The Forsyth Institute property includes 1.6 acres of vacant land and a building with 107,000 square feet of space. MFA director Malcolm Rogers calls the purchase a "once-in-a-lifetime" opportunity that will dramatically transform the museum and the Fenway area for generations to come.

Separate, barely, and not equal

The real estate slump is not hitting all Massachusetts communities -- and home sellers -- equally, as the experience of these two houses less than 20 miles apart shows. And even among a clutch of neighboring communities, the time it takes to sell a home can vary greatly. In Franklin, for example, single-family homes took on average 102 days to sell this spring, according to the Multiple Listings Service Property Information Network Inc., which provided data on home sales between March 1 and June 30. In Foxborough, the average was 156 days. And in two other neighboring communities, Medway and Norfolk, the average days- on-market for single-family homes were 164 days and 158 days, respectively.

Stakes in Boston two storied State Street towers for sale

The owner of half interests in Exchange Place, also known as 53 State St., and 75 State St., the gold-gilded granite building just down the street, is putting its positions up for sale in the current hot commercial real estate market, when sky-high prices don't seem to be getting in the way of even higher ones. Cushman & Wakefield of Massachusetts Inc., which is marketing the buildings, confirmed the offering but would not comment further.

Boston explores convention center expansion

The Massachusetts Convention Center Authority (MCCA) has issued a request for proposal to further develop the 62-acre plot of land that's currently home to the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center (BCEC). The MCCA is asking firms to focus on when and how the BCEC could be expanded. The 22-acres to be developed are currently a parking lot.“We always anticipated that there would be a phase two of the BCEC project when the building proved to be as successful as we hoped,” says Gloria Cordes Larson, Chairman of the MCCA board. “The building has exceeded our expectations, and it's the right time to explore what we should do with the undeveloped portion of the property. A master plan is the best way to start the dialogue.”

Boston Properties Signs 400,000 SF Lease

Boston Properties, Inc. , a real estate investment trust, and Ropes & Gray, announced today that they have executed a lease for Ropes & Gray to relocate its Boston office to the Prudential Tower. The firm will occupy more than 400,000 square feet of office space in the top floors of the 52-story, 1.2 million square foot office building beginning in the fall of 2010.

Several bids offered for purchase of 30 Winter St.

Several bids to purchase 30 Winter St., a 12-floor, 87,000-square-foot office building near Downtown Crossing, were received this week, Lisa M. Campoli, executive vice president of the real estate firm Meredith & Grew, said. Meredith & Grew is representing the joint owners, Great Point Investors LLC and the Cresset Group, both of Boston.

Business group lobbies for property tax relief

A business watchdog group issued a report today concluding that the state should honor an agreement that would limit how much Massachusetts communities can collect in future taxes from business properties. The report, from the Boston Municipal Research Bureau, focused on an agreement that was part of a 2004 tax measure and that sought to reach a compromise at a time when residential property values in Massachusetts were rising far faster than commercial property values.

Massachusetts residential real estate has become a game of survival

"Agents who have gotten into the business (recently) have never seen anything like this market now," Rosseland said, noting there's been a 30 to 40 percent decrease in the number of agents versus two years ago in some places. Particularly hard hit, according to Rosseland, are newer agents. Peter Certo, manager at Keller Williams Realty in Worcester, said the median wage for agents is being held back by agents who fail to adapt to the current residential market or who aren't being pushed to produce. Instead, some of those agents find themselves competing with, or ignored by, independent brokers who are selling just to keep the office doors open, Certo said.

Neighbor edges out bidders for Sun property

Sun, the second-largest employer in town, will continue to occupy 450,000 square feet of space in some of the buildings on the campus as a long-term tenant. That leaves more than 300,000 square feet open to rent immediately, with Nordblom planning to develop up to 570,000 square feet of additional space on the campus in the coming years.

Linear Retail pays $22m for plaza in Wellesley

Linear Retail Properties LLC of Burlington this week purchased Central Plaza, a 47,000-square-foot shopping center on Central Street in Wellesley Center, according to Jonathan Aron, vice president in the investment group of NAI Hunneman, which represented the buyer. The property, which was owned by Wellesley Realty Trust, had not been marketed and was sold in a private transaction for $22 million. The Gap and six other shops are tenants, and Citibank plans to take space in the two-story building, which is accompanied by a surface parking lot.

Massachusetts housing market may be in the doldrums

Still, both April and May saw strong sales and pricing, though much more modestly, according to numbers obtained by the Herald.In April, the average downtown condo sold for $639,856, up 20 percent over the year prior, according to preliminary figures. In May, it sold for $615,000, up 2 percent.In all, condo sales volume for April, May and June was up by about 2.3 percent, to 1,101 condos, compared to the same period last year.

Boston may annex land in Dedham for housing

In a deal that would make Theo Epstein proud, Dedham officials and Mayor Thomas M. Menino are working on an elaborate plan that, if consummated, would mark the first time in nearly a century that Boston expands its geographic boundaries.

O’Brien hopes to expand The Staubach Co.’s operations in Boston

Dallas Cowboys legend Roger Staubach is making the biggest hand-off of his post-football career today, passing day-to-day control of his $450 million Staubach Co. to Belmont native Greg O’Brien.