Related Beal LLC bought the 451 D St. office asset in south Boston for $276 million, nearly seven times the price it paid when it first acquired the property in 2006, the Boston Business Journal reported.
The seller is a partnership comprised of Meritage Properties LLC, CV Properties LLC and equity partner State Street Global Advisors.
The real estate investment and development company plans to transform about 100,000 square feet to 150,000 square feet of the 480,000-square-foot building's empty office space into a laboratory space in order to attract life sciences tenants, the June 8 report noted.
The 85%-occupied property houses tenants including Alion Science and Technology, RDK Engineers and JP Morgan Chase. Related Beal is likely to convert the roughly 25,000-square-foot space occupied by The Boston Herald, which is nearing the end of its lease term, according to the report.
A joint venture between Beal Cos. and Rockpoint Group acquired the property for $40.5 million in 2006 and sold it to Shorenstein Properties LLC for $115 million in 2012. Shorenstein divested it in 2014 to GE Asset Management, CV Properties and Meritage Properties for $169.5 million, and in 2016, State Street Corp. acquired GE's stake in the building.
Related Beal plans to complete the conversion to lab space by 2018-end, the report added.
