Live Nation to sell three Boston venues

Live Nation, the largest producer of live concerts in the world, has announced that they have reached an agreement to sell three Boston venues - The Boston Opera House, the Orpheum Theatre, and the Paradise Rock Club - for a combined price of $22.5 million. The name of the buyer has not been identified.

The deal is expected to close in the third quarter and includes an earn-out close at the Orpheum Theatre for the next five years. The California-based company described the three properties as "non-core real estate holdings" and stated they will use the funds to pay off debt. Live Nation will continue to promote non-theatrical shows at the three venues.

The Opera House, which was reopened after extensive renovation in 2004, has hosted mostly theater and stage productions and a handful of concerts over the past few years. The Orpheum Theatre's use has been reduced considerably since the opening of the brand new House of Blues on Lansdowne Street, which is also owned by Live Nation. The surprising party of today's news is the sale of the famed Paradise Rock Club, which was just purchased by Live Nation last year.

Single-family house prices in Connecticut dropped nearly 18 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier, according to Boston real estate publishe

The drop was the steepest drop in decline prices for any quarter since The Warren Group began tracking the state's prices in 1987.

The median sale price for single-family homes in the first three months of this year fell to $220,000 from $267,000 in the year-ago period, The Warren Group report said. The March median home price was $220,000, 18.1 percent lower than the $268,500 median price recorded in March 2008. Monthly median home prices have been falling by double-digit percentages year-over-year for six consecutive months.