Wednesday, February 15, 2006

Quincy scores real estate coup: Registry of Motor Vehicles main office will move from Boston to North Quincy this summer

By TOM BENNER

Patriot Ledger State House Bureau

BOSTON - In a sign of an increasingly vibrant south-of-Boston real estate market, the main office of the state Registry of Motor Vehicles will move from Boston to Quincy this summer, along with about 425 employees.

The Registry will move from its pricey headquarters at Copley Place in downtown Boston to far less expensive digs at 25 Newport Ave. Extension in North Quincy.

‘‘ Quincy was already a tightening office market with a high single-digit vacancy rate,’’ said J.P. Plunkett, senior director of commercial real estate broker Cushman & Wakefield in Boston . ‘‘This pending transaction only further demonstrates how attractive an address Quincy and Braintree are.’’

Registry officials say the agency will save millions on the move. It currently pays $57 a square foot to lease about 106,000 square feet at Copley Place - about $6 million a year. By moving about 140 employees to a state building at Park Place in Boston, the Registry will lease a smaller space at a cheaper price at its new location in Quincy, paying $28 a square foot for about 60,000 square feet, which would cost the agency about $1.7 million annually.

The agency will occupy roughly three-fourths of 25 Newport, a four-story office building that was vacated last December by Blue Cross and Shield.

The relative swiftness with which the building, and two others in Quincy also recently vacated by Blue Cross, found new tenants underscores the attractiveness of the south-of-Boston market, Plunkett said.

‘‘There’s no down time in absorbing these massive vacancies,’’ he said. ‘‘Normally it takes nine to 24 months to backfill vacant buildings of these sizes.’’

The building, a short walk from the North Quincy MBTA station, is jointly owned by Taurus Investment Holdings in Boston and Green Street Capital in New York.

‘‘The city of Quincy did well in a number of ways,’’ said Peter Merrigan, president and CEO of Taurus, noting that several nonprofit organizations had been looking at the building. ‘‘You’ve got a net new pickup of a significant number of jobs, and the property remains on the tax rolls.’’

Merrigan’s bid beat out about 10 others to house the Registry offices. The state agency has agreed to enter into a 10-year lease, and is expected to move in July or August.

The new Registry site will have free parking, another selling point for the decision to move to 25 Newport, said Jon Carlisle, spokesman for the state Executive Office of Transportation.

‘‘The current location has had some logistical difficulties,’’ Carlisle said. ‘‘It’s a tony address, but if you had to come in to do business with the RMV, it’s $28 to park in Copley Place, whereas in Quincy, parking will be free.’’

Registry spokeswoman Amie O’Hearn said some employees are unhappy about the pending move, while others will have a shorter commute to work. Unionized workers belonging to the Quincy-based National Association of Government Employees have complained that they weren’t consulted about the move.

‘‘With any change there will be some resistance,’’ O’Hearn said. ‘‘But there will be some employees who will benefit with an easier commute.’’

The Registry will be the first state agency to have its headquarters in Quincy since the Department of Education left the city for Malden a decade ago.

Tom Benner may be reached at tbenner@ledger.com.

Copyright 2006 The Patriot Ledger