"It's the kind of loss that would once have seemed inconceivable for a new office building in East Cambridge, where the world's largest biotechnology companies and institutions have long snapped up office and lab space faster than developers could build it. Of course, many of those deals were finalized prior to the pandemic, and the upheaval it brought to commercial real estate."
"It was 18 months into the pandemic, in September 2021, when Arkansas-based Bank OZK lent $300 million to developers Leggat McCall Properties of Boston and Granite Properties of Plano, Texas, to finally launch the long-stalled conversion of the abandoned courthouse into office space and affordable housing. The building opened in late 2024, with no office tenants signed, and OZK's construction loan came due in January."
A 20-story office tower in East Cambridge converted from the Sullivan Courthouse opened largely vacant after a $300 million construction loan financed in September 2021. The loan funded conversion into office space and affordable housing, but the building opened in late 2024 with no signed office tenants. Bank OZK recorded a $72.4 million loss after the loan matured in January and is preparing foreclosure if developers cannot secure tenants or new investors. Developers Leggat McCall Properties and Granite Properties are negotiating a potential tenant for roughly one-third of the building while seeking additional capital. A 2018 Kendall Square one-acre lot sale for $50 million once indicated strong investor demand.
Read at Boston.com
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