Top lifestyle center in western Boston suburbs secures $190M in financing

BOSTON, June 1, 2023 – JLL Capital Markets announced today that it has arranged $190 million in first mortgage refinancing, led by Wells Fargo and Truist, for Legacy Place, a 675,000-square-foot, high-performing, grocery-anchored lifestyle retail center located in the western Boston suburb of Dedham, Massachusetts.

JLL worked on behalf of the borrower, WS Development and Nuveen Real Estate, to secure the loan through a two-bank syndicate.

Built from 2008 to 2009 and renovated in 2020 and 2022, Legacy Place is anchored by Whole Foods, Apple, L.L. Bean and Showcase Cinemas. The Whole Foods is the most visited location in Massachusetts, and Legacy Place as a whole is the most visited lifestyle center in New England. The property features a strong tenant mix of food and beverage, entertainment specialty retailers and digitally native brands. Notable tenants include Nike, Athleta, Industrious, Shake Shack, Lululemon, Sephora, Sweetgreen, Yard House and more.

Located at 300 Legacy Place Blvd., the center sits on 37 acres of land in the affluent Dedham sub-market, where average household incomes exceed $150,000. The intersection of I-95 (145,000 VPD) and Route 1 (45,000 VPD) provides visitors easy highway accessibility. Additionally, the property offers connectivity to downtown Boston with MBTA’s Dedham Corporate Center Commuter Rail Station 0.5 miles from the center. The center’s trade area population is approximately 1.3 million and benefits from a nearby dense and thriving residential community.

“We are extremely pleased and not surprised with the outcome and refinance execution at Legacy Place. The transaction further proves that in spite of macro-economic headwinds, large-format retail properties in premier locations with best-in-class partnerships and anchored by today’s most sought-after tenants will absolutely continue to thrive,” added Todd Rollins, who heads up acquisitions and asset management for Nuveen’s Northeast region, along with their super regional mall ventures.

The JLL Retail Capital Markets Debt Advisory team was led by Senior Managing Director Brett Paulsrud, Senior Director Henry Schaffer and Associate Hugh Doherty, with assistance from Retail Investment Sales Advisors Chris Angelone and Zach Nitsche.

“Despite the headlines in the debt markets, we’re still seeing liquidity available for best-in-class assets and sponsors, even at scale.” said Paulsrud. “Legacy Place is the premier lifestyle center in Boston’s western suburbs. The sponsor team has been extremely thoughtful in programming its tenant mix, which poises the center for continued dominance in the region for years to come.”

JLL Capital Markets is a full-service global provider of capital solutions for real estate investors and occupiers. The firm's in-depth local market and global investor knowledge delivers the best-in-class solutions for clients — whether investment and sales advisory, debt advisory, equity advisory or a recapitalization. The firm has more than 3,000 Capital Markets specialists worldwide with offices in nearly 50 countries.

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Nuveen Real Estate is one of the largest investment managers in the world with $153 billion of assets under management.

Managing a suite of funds and mandates, across both public and private investments, and spanning both debt and equity across diverse geographies and investment styles, we provide access to every aspect of real estate investing.

With over 85 years of real estate investing experience and more than 785 employees* located across 30+ cities throughout the United States, Europe and Asia Pacific, the platform offers unparalleled geographic reach, which is married with deep sector expertise. For further information, please visit us at nuveen.com/realestate

*Includes 400+ real estate investment professionals, supported by a further 390 Nuveen employees.

Source: Nuveen, 31 Mar 2023.

Massachusetts-based WS Development is a mixed-use developer with a singular mission: creating places people want to be. With an approach that values art, science, innovation and, above all else, people, WS strives to engage each community it serves with best-in-class experiences, designed with our customers, tenants and partners in mind. Established in 1990, WS is one of few vertically-integrated real estate companies that conceptualizes, owns, operates and leases more than 100 properties that range from cutting-edge urban spaces to lifestyle and community centers. With over 22 million square feet of existing space and an additional nine million square feet under development, it is one of the largest privately-owned development firms in the country. For more information, visit www.wsdevelopment.com, call 617.232.8900 or follow WS Development on LinkedIn.