Boston Real Estate Collaborative

Join us for panel discussion Branching Out: The Case for Mass Timber Construction with Brent Berc and Patrick Haydon of Haycon on Thursday, October 17th. Although New England has a long history with Mass Timber buildings, the region has been slower to adopt modern Mass timber techniques. This panel will explore local resources, key advantages, and debunk common misconceptions in Greater Boston. Register today by clicking the link below!

Boston Real Estate Collaborative is hiring! All interested parties can either apply on our website under careers (link below) or through our job posting. https://lnkd.in/eJpRc996

51 Cottage Street in Everett is the third building of four in our workforce housing portfolio. This building represents an important component of the housing stock that provides quality housing to those who don't qualify or can't access income-restricted housing. Our residents in these buildings work in the service, hospitality, labor sectors and more. We like to be innovative at BREC, but we also value preserving what is left of our scarce, naturally affordable housing stock. Since purchasing the property in 2019, we have invested in redoing all the bathrooms, and adding a common kitchen for the residents. Future plans are to update common area interior design, and update common area lighting.

450 Ferry St., Everett, MA. Another building in BREC's workforce housing portfolio, 450 Ferry, previously leased by a school, was added to BREC's portfolio in 2019. After a substantial CapEx project focused on improving common areas, bathrooms, and adding an updated kitchen space, the building began leasing in mid-2020. We are proud to be working with not-for-profits and providing housing in Everett that is attainable for the local workforce.

Team Member Spotlight 💥 Name: Will Avanessian Role: Founding Partner What sets BREC apart: Our combination of patience and company structure.  Some of our best deals have taken 7+ years to reach completion and have involved multiple buildable phases.  For the small-to-mid sized development company this is almost unheard of.   Everything from our vertical integration, to diversity in knowledge base amongst the core managers to our cost structure allows us to take on some really fun and interesting projects.  It may not be the most optimal structure for outsized profit but this core strategy allows us to punch above our weight when it comes to being able to do fun and innovative housing & hospitality projects within Boston Metro.  And importantly, we have been able to use patience and structure to maintain ownership control and thus create a place where BREC is in control of its fate. This stability has been and continues to be important throughout.     Why is innovation so important to BREC? Chances to do cutting edge and innovative projects are the reason many of us are in this space.  The truth is that we work in a very traditional space and not every project we do can be some groundbreaking technological feat or a new housing product -- but occasionally we get a chance to do something very new and we try to make the most of those opportunities.  Keeping ourselves excited and engaged is really important and it has many down-stream benefits.  Working on new concepts and technologies allows us to attract the best talent to work with on a daily basis in the office as well as on a project basis with the best building professionals like architects and engineers.  It becomes a self fulfilling cycle and what feeds this cycle is the excitement of innovation.  It keeps us sharp, excited and working with the best and most talented people in the space.

Team Member Spotlight 💥 Name: Brent Berc Role: Owner What sets BREC apart: What sets it apart is our vertical integration and collaborative approach to each project. We consider a project from a number of perspectives before we put a shovel in the ground - design, construction, management, experience and investment. We own and manage our projects longterm, so getting them right in these areas really matters. Why is innovation so important to BREC? It is getting increasingly hard to develop in Boston, and without innovation one of the only ways to compete in the residential and hospitality development world is to go up-market/luxury. Costs are high and permitting is difficult, so delivering projects that are not at the top of the market is difficult without innovation. We’re not talking about reinventing the business, but rather making modest improvements in design, construction and operation with each project to help the dollar stretch further for us, and our residents and guests.

Allow us to reintroduce ourselves. Have you checked out our new website yet?

High interest rates and construction pricing have put a damper on new development since 2022. Boston needs activity to pick back up so we at least have a shot of keeping prices in check. We’re watching the markets in hopes that we can get our hotel project NOWA going in 2025. NOWA is an 8 story, 42- room,  all-electric, boutique hotel built using mass timber and designed to Passive House standards. It would be the first mass timber passive house hotel in the Northeast and will raise the bar yet again for sustainable development in our region. Check out the teaser website at: www.nowaboston.com (credit to Derek Wakeen) More to come soon.

Boston is looking good for hotel investment in the eyes of CBRE’s team. Demand has recovered from the pandemic and is growing but supply is not keeping up. Capital markets are providing headwinds but it’s also difficult to entitle in Boston and so, like housing, we may never have the supply to meet demand. Probably not good for business in the long term… Read more at the link below: https://lnkd.in/eihdxCin