news & press

A look back at one of our biggest transformations of 2017.

The Mount Vernon Company recently purchased 1200 Soldiers Field Road as its new corporate headquarters. Purchased for $3.8M from Intercontinental Real Estate Corporation, the building consists of approximately 19,000 SF and 38 underground parking spaces. It resides directly on Soldiers Field Road at the intersection of Everett Street. Frank Petz of Jones Lang LaSalle brokered the transaction on behalf of Intercontinental Real Estate Corporation.

Boston developer Mount Vernon Co. is moving to where a big piece of the action is in the multifamily market. The company, which owns more than 1,500 apartment units in Greater Boston including nearly 1,000 in Allston-Brighton, acquired a new 19,250-square-foot headquarters at 1200 Soldiers Field Road from Intercontinental Real Estate Corp. on May 24 for $3.8 million. It will relocate from Haddon Hall at 29 Commonwealth Ave. in mid-August, founder and Chairman Bruce Percelay said.

In some communities around Boston, officials see partially empty parking lots at apartment complexes and wonder whether it’s time to ease space requirements for new construction. In the city, efforts to make housing more affordable by building fewer parking spaces don’t always sit well with neighbors, who worry the newcomers’ cars will invade street spaces. As ever, figuring out where to park a car in Massachusetts is complicated.

A popular real estate investment vehicle could be in jeopardy under Republican-led tax reform. The “like-kind” or 1031 exchange was introduced in the 1920s to soften the tax burden on farmers looking to swap land. The rationale went something like this: If a taxpayer receives nothing in the transaction to pay taxes on (it is tied up in the new property), no tax should be owed. It has since morphed into a way for businesses like airlines to save millions by trading in older assets for something newer.

The New England Patriots Super Bowl victory, while miraculous itself, has meaning that goes far deeper than the greatness of this team. The victory speaks to the very heart of a local culture that is producing a record number of triumphs well beyond the playing field — into the fields of business, medical, life science, biotechnology and innovation. While the connection between the Patriots' success and the success of Boston as a whole may seem tenuous, it is actually quite direct.

For decades, Ardo Garabedian’s gas station and parking lot along Western Avenue in Brighton were surrounded by a ragtag array of used-car dealerships, and the dilapidated remnants of the old Charles River Speedway.