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THE FINANCIAL SERVICES AND REAL ESTATE WEEKLY FOR MASSACHUSETTS BY THE NUMBERS
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County close-up: Hampshire Spotlight: Easthampton
IN PERSON
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Bopha Malone came to work at Enterprise Bank through her interaction with the bank’s founder and current executive chairman George Duncan. Malone wrote a grant proposal to spend a year in Cambodia to learn about her native culture, and Duncan and his family helped fund the trip.
WEEK OF MONDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2018
COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE BY THE NUMBERS
R E C R U I T I N G T O P TA L E N T
2 million square feet Beverley’s Cummings Center is 2 million square feet and home to 500 businesses. See page B9 for more about suburban alternatives to downtown Boston.
40 inches The first office building in the Suffolk Downs redevelopment is designed at 40 inches above the 100-year FEMA flood elevation. See page B8 for more about HYM Investment Group’s resiliency planning at the former racetrack.
32 feet Novartis’ famous stone veil consists of a 23,000-square-foot hand-laid granite block wall that is 32 feet tall. See page B6 for more about innovations in façade construction
61 stories The new Four Seasons Hotel and Private Residences One Dalton St. is 61 stories tall and the building’s envelope is primarily glass. See page B7 for more about Skanska’s construction of One Dalton.
20-30 percent Net zero emission buildings can be expensive, with final construction costs running 20 percent to 30 percent higher than for traditional buildings; a 270,000-square-foot Cambridge school and community complex will become Massachusetts’ largest-scale net zero emissions project upon completion next year. See page B1 for more about the net zero school currently under construction in Cambridge.
21,504 square feet iHeartRadio has expanded its lease at 1 Cabot Road in Medford to 21,504 square feet. See page B8 for more of the month’s top commercial lease transactions.
200 whiskeys Andy Husbands’ The Smoke Shop BBQ’s 4,500-square-foot restaurant in Assembly Square will include a 30-seat bar, two patios and more than 50 craft beers and 200 American whiskeys. See page 9 for more about new shops opening in phase two of construction at Assembly Row.
3-D A number of construction and development firms are embracing 3-D VR/AR in their planning phases. See page B7 for more about the uses of VR/AR in commercial real estate.
Lenders, Brokers Look for Lucrative LOs
Recruiters Court Their Competition BY JIM MORRISON BANKER & TRADESMAN STAFF
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everal trends are combining to heighten recruiting efforts for quality loan originators (LOs), but LOs beware: While it may be tempting to change companies when things aren’t going as well as you’d like, recruiters are turned off by job-hopping. Several factors at work in the marketplace have combined to create extreme competition for talented LOs. First, rising interest rates have slammed the brakes on the refi business, so only LOs who hustle for purchase business are going to make money. The average LO is in their mid-50s, and they aren’t being quickly replaced as they retire. Lastly, lenders with no significant Greater Boston footprint are eager to move into town and capitalize on the Boston real estate boom. The increase in recruiting is also partially driven by smaller lenders feeling pressure to make more money. The warehouse institutions that temporarily fund loans before they are sold on the secondary market demand a certain volume from the companies they do business with. “People are recruiting LOs more than ever,” said David Lazowski, regional senior vice president at Fairway Independent continued on page 8
COMMERCIAL INTERESTS
RAISING THE BAR
Return of No-Down-Payment Mortgages a Worrisome Sign
Resiliency Strategy Comes into Focus
Are We in for a Return to the Bad Old Days? By Scott Van Voorhis | Banker & Tradesman Columnist
Commercial Real Estate PAGE 3
Suffolk Downs Looks Ahead to 2100 By Steve Adams | Banker & Tradesman Staff
Commercial Real Estate PAGE 9