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Developers spend $1.6 million on Codman Square building that last sold for $55,000
By adamg on Thu, 07/28/2016 - 10:25am
Bldup.com reports that developers Yijie Dai and Jin Yue Zhang this week purchased 493 Washington St. in Codman Square for $1.6 million. The seller, the Full Life Gospel Center, paid $55,000 for the building in 1999. The single-story building sits on a 9,000-square-foot lot.
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Comments
This is good....
Codman Sq is home to about five thousand churches. I didn't even know there was so much disagreement about the teachings of Jebus. One less is a start, and that price tag just means the other churches can get crazy money too, then move outta town to establish even better communes and compounds to show their love for the big bearded man in the sky judging us all.
Better that God judges us
than some of the crazies on this web site.
Just a reminder ...
This is a story about the purchase of one small church in Codman Square, not about what may or may not have happened in a far larger religious institution that has absolutely nothing to do with this particular storefront. Also, there are other forums to better discuss your feelings about organized religion in general.
We now conclude this test of the Emergency Vagueblogging System.
Back in 1997
I was renting a unit in a building in Southie that was going condo. I was offered a two bedroom for $100K. Everything brand spanking new. That same unit now is about $800K.
Southie was miles ahead of Dorchester back then as far as desirability and price are concerned. Codman Square? Nobody would touch commercial there.
I fail to see why this is a headline story.
I admit, I found it interesting
That somebody would spend that much money on that small a parcel in an area that has largely been bypassed by the development boom seen in places such as, yes, South Boston.
Does anyone have price per square foot stats?
I admit that I don't know what the going rate is for commerical space in Dorchester these days, but it is only a 10 minute walk to Shawmut T.
I would have said the same thing about Andrew Square 10 years ago. But look at that now.
Dot Commercial Real Estate
The initial reaction of most people will be that it is a crazy deal. The building is solid block and brick, in better than average condition, within a reasonable walk to Shawmut, as others have pointed out. 8000 square feet at $20-25/ft triple net will produce rent of $160-200,000. (plus cash from the hammocks in the basement) Of course if whoever wins in November doesn't start actually amortizing the national debt, the building will be boarded up in five to ten years. http://www.usdebtclock.org/
Does no one finds it odd
Does no one find it odd that there is a trend of Chinese nationals buying up quite a bit of property in the Boston and Metro-West area over the past few years?
Nope
First, though, how do you know they're Chinese nationals? A lot of people around here with Chinese names are as American as you or I.
But the phenomenon of actual Chinese nationals buying up Boston-area real estate is hardly new or unnoted. T.H. Chan, who lives in Hong Kong, owns a good chunk of Harvard Square (and gave so much money to Harvard they renamed their School of Public Health after him). We're a safe, secure haven in an uncertain financial world and so many Chinese nationals have been snapping up our real estate and coming here for school that Boston Magazine last year came out with a Chinese edition.
first of all...
The fact that you provided a link to the same Boston Magazine articles I've read provides some base for my assumption that these are Chinese nationals. Secondly, I have first hand experience in this having rented and subsequently forced out of a condo out in Natick that was bought by someone that resides in China..
The purchaser also bought 6 other units in the same complex. This person and the English-speaking handler decided to use their own "handyman", also Chinese, to make illegal modifications to the units; i.e. knocked down a load bearing wall, painted over a section of recently replaced siding, turned off water to an entire building on a weekend because they were making plumbing modifications to a unit which disrupted the lives of the elderly and disabled people living in the same building.
These folks did these things without permits or notifying the condo association of their intentions.
Secure and safe haven? Not if they think they can skirt the legal paths of getting things done properly in the U.S. which will put their tenants and those around them at risk.
Natick has a building inspector, no?
I'm going to bet most of the violations found by your average building inspector are called/e-mailed in by anonymous neighbors. Have at it.
And I'm willing to bet that good ol' Americans are just as likely to engage in stupid building stuff as anybody else.
Gee Adam...
Wasn't expecting a snide response but that's how things go I guess.
As a "good ol' American", it appears to me that safety and security have taken a backseat to anyone with money, particularly if it is hard cash and one does not have to care whose lives are affected because they live on the other side of the world. Yet, "good ol' American"(s) are told by those who place themselves on a pedestal that we should just shrug these things off and look at rosy side...
No, not what I was saying
Apologies if I muddled things up.
My issue, such as it is is in blaming an entire group of people for the actions of a small group. Yes, what happened in your building sucks, but that doesn't mean all Chinese nationals are necessarily buying up buildings around here and tearing out supporting walls (and getting back to the original issue, we still don't know for a fact that these two are, in fact, Chinese citizens, as opposed to two guys from Quincy, which is where their LLC is based).
Really?
You don't seem to have a problem with blaming the entire police force for actions of a few bad apples, or the entire white race for something that happened hundreds of years ago, yet now you suddenly got your panties all twisted?
My panties are the purest silk
They feel great! And they never bunch! You should try a pair; well worth the extra cost.
Not exactly
Many people coming to the US from overseas don't understand the concept of tenants rights or building permits. The Chinese are notorious for this - they just do the same things they used to do in China. Only it is illegal here.
Remember the 48 Hours segment where the BFD got a general alarm fire in Chinatown and had to deal with a lot of illegal uses, storage and modifications?
That.
Anecdotes are not data, but...
When I sold my house last year just outside Boston, one of the three above-asking-price bids was an all-cash offer from a Chinese national.
Only a matter of time
until everywhere within walking distance to a T stop is developed. There are more developers looking for T accessible land than there is T accessible land....so tick tock tick tock. I support development close to T stops so I am glad to see it :)
True statement....
when looking to buy a house last year my biggest stipulation was that it be T-accessible. I have a degenerative eye condition which may or may not lead to legal blindness if I am not careful. When I can no longer drive I will be using public transit, and with the stranglehold the oil companies have on 'murica there are just going to be more and more cars clogging our roads, not less. The Big Dig didn't even put a dent on traffic because by the time it was done traffic had increased to the point where it seems to have had zero effect.
Anyways.....Mattapan, DOT, Malden, Quincy and Revere was all that was left in a price range I could afford. Really not even Malden now. Everything else that touches a T-stop is already exclusive to the well-off. Time is running out to get something around the T. By the time they expand it your kids will be looking for housing, maybe your grandkids!
Reminds me of this story...
http://www.bostonherald.com/business/business_markets/2008/08/fishy_seco...
Time to short the housing market again...
That parcel was assessed at
That parcel was assessed at $413k in 1999, so the $55k transaction might not have been arms length.
Today that parcel is assessed at $970k. The city doesn't put a lot of effort into assessing exempt parcels, because the tax bill is $0 no matter how much the property is actually worth, but I wonder if the $1.6 million is also inflated. It might reflect some other easements or improvements not yet made.