155 North Beacon St./Image courtesy of Ellenzweig
Lab developer IQHQ sold another approved development site in Boston, a 3-acre parcel that’s approved for a 409,395 square-foot lab complex, to New Balance’s real estate arm.
This week’s $35.25 million transaction represents a 30 percent discount on the $50 million purchase price that IQHQ paid for the former Sound Museum studios’ home at 155 North Beacon St. in June 2021.
The company had refinanced the 155 North Beacon St. property in February along with a small Fenway lab building and the former Hotel Buckminster, which IQHQ had proposed for a lab project.
IQHQ’s plans to demolish the sprawling music rehearsal studios’ home stirred protests by arts and culture groups, and prompted city officials to intervene in the search for a replacement location.
As a condition of its approval for the lab project, IQHQ agreed to acquire a nearby property at 290 North Beacon St. for $18 million and donate it to the city for a permanent music rehearsal studio.
Last week, city officials announced the selection of a development consultant and music consultant as advisors on that project.
A message was left with NB Development seeking comment on its plans.
IQHQ received approval for the lab project in June 2023, as lab vacancies were rising. In December, the Solana Beach, California-based REIT sold another approved lab development site on North Beacon Street to NB Development, also for a loss.
The company delivered its 109 Brookline Ave. lab tower in the Fenway without any tenants this summer. And it recently completed construction of a deck over the Mass. Pike to support a parking garage and a pair of lab towers next to Fenway Park. However, it appears to have paused construction on the development, dubbed “Fenway Center.”
