Boston Properties says co-founder and Chairman Edward Linde died of pneumonia at 67

Boston Properties says CEO Linde died Sunday

BOSTON — Real estate investment trust Boston Properties Inc. said that co-founder and CEO Edward Linde died Sunday from complications of pneumonia.

Chairman Mortimer Zuckerman has taken over as CEO, the company said in a press release late Sunday.

Linde founded Boston Properties in 1970 with Zuckerman. Linde is a former president of Boston Properties, and his son Douglas is currently president of the Boston company. Linde was 67, according to the company’s Web site.

The company’s properties include Times Square Tower and Citigroup Inc.’s headquarters in New York. Boston Properties was part of a group of investors that bought the General Motors Building in New York City in 2008. It has a majority stake in the building and maintains the property.

Zuckerman is also publisher of the New York Daily News, and Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of U.S. News & World Report.

ICA Boston Appoints Helen Molesworth Chief Curator

BOSTON—The Institute for Contemporary Art (ICA) has named Helen Molesworth as its new chief curator. She arrives at the ICA after serving as the head of the department of modern and contemporary art at the Harvard Art Museum. Some of her exhibitions at Harvard have included “Long Life Cool White: Photographs by Moyra Davey” and “ACT UP New York: Activism, Art, and the AIDS Crisis, 1987-1993.” She also recently organized Hauser & Wirth’s reinterpretation of Allan Kaprow’s seminal Yard happening with William Pope.L, Josiah McElheny, and Sharon Hayes. Prior to joining Harvard, Molesworth was chief curator of exhibitions at the Wexner Center for Arts in Columbus, Ohio. She holds a Ph.D. in the history of art from Cornell University.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand—The New Zealand Museum has named Michael Houlihan as its new chief executive officer. He replaces Dr. Seddon Bennington, who died in July of last year. Houlihan’s past museum experience includes positions at the Imperial War Museum, the Horniman Museum in London, and the National Museums and Galleries of Northern Ireland, where he served as the network’s first chief executive.

Greater Boston Sees Office Rents Leveling Off in 2010, Says 24th Annual Global Market Report

BOSTON – While the Massachusetts economy is still in a downturn, the rate of deterioration has slowed considerably. The state’s education, health services, professional services, as well as information sectors have remained relatively stable despite strong recessionary pressures from the financial services sector.

Asking rates for office space continued to fall in 2009, but are leveling off. With vacancy rates climbing to 9.5% in the Central Business District and 16.5% in the suburbs, there is no shortage of supply, allowing tenants with solid financials to take advantage of tenant-favorable conditions. Significant transactions include Verizon’s 200,000 SF lease at 185

It's a renter's market in office real estate

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. office vacancy rate hit a 15-year high in the fourth quarter and landlords slashed rent last year by the largest amount since at least 1980, real estate research firm Reis Inc said on Friday.

Housing Market

"This period marks the eighth consecutive quarter since the beginning of 2008 that office properties registered deterioration in occupied space," Victor Calanog, Reis director of research, said in a statement. "We should not understate the amount of pressure that office properties endured since the recession began."

During the fourth quarter the national office vacancy rate climbed 0.40 percentage point from the third quarter to 17 percent, the highest level since 1994.

Since the start of the recession in December 2007, the U.S. economy has shed 7.2 million jobs, drastically reducing demand for office space and flooding the market with sublease space. To lure or retain tenants, landlords have offered months of free rent and have kicked in for the cost of converting a raw space onto offices.

Greater Boston Real Estate Market Remains Strong at Year-End 2009

NORWELL, MA, ISSUED JANUARY 5, 2010 . . . Data released today by HouseSavvy (www.housesavvy.com), an online full service real estate organization, documents that the Greater Boston Real Estate Market continues to be one of the healthiest markets in the country. One of the strongest indications is the increase in the average sale price of homes sold – from $393,359 in December, 2008 to $461,042 in December, 2009. At approximately the same time, the average sale price nationally has dropped about 3% year-to-year - from $233,000 in 2008 to $216,400 in 2009. (The “Greater Boston Market” consists of the 167 towns and cities within the six counties surrounding Boston: Bristol, Essex, Middlesex, Norfolk, Plymouth and Suffolk).



Other positive indications include year-to-year sales activity (up almost 4%) and unsold home inventory (down 18.7%) to a present 6 month supply. According to Walter Hall, founder and Chairman of HouseSavvy, unsold home inventory is the single, best indicator of the overall health of a given real estate market. This figure is derived by dividing the number of unsold listings at the end of the month by the number of sales taking place in that month. Real estate experts have long contended that 5-6 month supplies of unsold homes equate to a “Balanced Market” with sellers and buyers about equal and home values holding steady.

Authority Seeks Bids for Partner on Tower

The central tower at ground zero, designed to rise to 105 stories, has been characterized by some as a symbol of New York’s resilience, and reviled by others as a white elephant. Now it will pick up a new label: for sale.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey wants to sell the skyscraper, the former Freedom Tower, known now by its original name, 1 World Trade Center.

In recent days, the Port Authority has asked a select group of commercial real estate developers and owners to bid for a partnership interest in the $3.2 billion tower, according to a developer who was contacted by the authority.

2009: another year at Real Estate Now

Today, my year as a blogger, here with you at Boston.com Real Estate Now.
This July, Boston.com Real Estate Now posted its 1000 entry. I, personally, have written about 500. In 2009, I introduced Sam Schneiderman to bring another buyer agent’s voice to the blog. Later in the year, he was joined by Attorney Richard Vetstein. I have also tapped James Morrison, a home inspector, for tips and stories.

This year, I covered the big stories that affect buyers: foreclosure, short sales, changes in appraisals, changes in lending, changing rules for condos, the $8000 tax credit. The “Living Well” series came and went, describing ways of living here without spending megabucks in the toney suburbs. We discussed living in condos, renting, snow shoveling, home and yard maintenance, and other topics that relate to where we choose to live. I told the stories of two modular houses. I also brought up topics about brokers; what we should do, how we get paid, what problems come up when agents don’t do their jobs. And more…

If I had to name the year, I’d call it “The Year of the Cautious Buyer.”

I believe that buyers are thinking harder and longer, deliberating more, and learning more before they buy. It’s a good thing. I have tried to aid and abet that by providing stories of what is going on in the world of real estate.