When he called me, he told me two things: his budget was from $1,300 to $2,000 and he was only going to be here for twenty-four hours, he was ready to make a decision right away.

He asked me, “Do you think I can find something in that price range?” and I kind of laughed – hell, yeah, I thought, especially since he was only looking for a studio or one-bedroom.

Well, the joke was on me.

We found only six properties (SIX!) in that price range of which four were dumps. The two nice places included a top-floor (seven-stories) studio apartment on Commonwealth Ave for $2,000 and a cute, somewhat spacious studio on the “sunny side” of Beacon Street for $1,650.

I was as surprised as he that we couldn’t find more of a selection in the mid-range.

Now the Boston Globe is out with an article stating what I just found out – rents in Boston are expensive.

While Boston housing values have dropped in the double digits over the last five years, rents have only dipped and now appear to be rebounding. As a result, prospective tenants looking to sign leases on apartments before the city’s traditional Sept. 1 rush will find high prices and few incentives, real estate brokers and property managers say.

According to an analysis by a rental research firm, Boston is the fourth-most expensive apartment market in the United States.

While vacancy rates have increased during the past several years, inventory is still tight, especially in the Back Bay. Renters have options in several of the new high-rise, “luxury” buildings including Archstone Boston Common and Avenir and NorthPoint but prices there begin at about $2,000 for a studio and over $2,200 for a one-bedroom.

Try swinging that on a young executive’s salary. Doesn’t leave much room for drinks at the Rattlesnake.

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It is available June 1, 2010. The rent is $2,250 per month.

Details:

Beautiful condo-quality two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment for rent. Convenient to JFK-UMASS Red Line T-stop and comes with one off-street parking space. Open floor plan with 1,300+/- square feet of space. South/East exposure in living room with row of windows and access to private front deck. Kitchen stocked with high-end appliances including Fisher and Paykel dishwasher. Master bedroom has master bath with high-end finishes. Full-sized second bedroom w/ access to private back deck.

Photos – click to enlarge images:

More information: Dorchester apartment for rent

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From Banker & Tradesman:

Boston Properties Looking To Convert Russia Wharf Residential Units To Rentals
By Paul McMorrow

Boston Properties is preparing to convert the 65 remaining condominium units in its $550 million, mixed-use Russia Wharf development in Boston to rental apartments, sources have indicated to Banker & Tradesman.

The project is now known as “Atlantic Wharf”. Wellington Management is anchor tenant in the building, expected to be completed sometime in 2011.

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From the press release:

Boston University Medical Center Receives Approval for Additional Graduate Student Housing

The BRA board granted approval for an amendment to Boston University Medical Center’s Institutional Master Plan to include the creation of the Albany Street Fellows Graduate Housing Project. This project will replace a presently vacant structure and existing surface parking/storage uses with a new residential building and substantial open space that will contribute to the urban design and character of the surrounding area.

Total project cost is $44 million. In addition to BUMC as the developer, the project team includes Beacon Architectural Associates as the project architect and Rubin & Rudman as legal counsel. The project will create 250 construction jobs.

Fallon Towle & Associates is the designated developer of the parcel. Stull and Lee, Inc. is the architect.

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If all goes according to plan, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation will give approval today to a devleoper’s proposal for a 78-unit apartment complex to be built to the side of the Rose Kennedy Greenway, near Haymarket, on what is known as Parcel 9.

According to Tom Grillo at the Boston Herald:

State approval will allow “Eastat Realty Capital to build a 78-unit apartment building with a ground-floor produce market on a state-owned lot overlooking the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway.

Eastat’s five-story complex on a 29,400-square-foot parcel at the corner of Blackstone and North streets …”

Other ideas previously floated for the space included the Boston History Museum and office / commercial space.

I’m skeptical that people will want to live in that location, but what do I know? Perhaps they can get wealthy people to buy into the idea, I assume the idea isn’t to make the housing “affordable”.

The developer, Eastat Realty Capital, has been involved in other Boston projects include the restoration of what is now the Ames Hotel, build-outs of sections of Faneuil Hall and Fleet Center, and 45 Stuart Street (no idea what this is … the empty lot?).

Renderings of the original proposal courtesy Eastat Realty Capital

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To those of us who have lived in Massachusetts our entire lives, the name Harold Brown is well known. He is a Boston businessman who owns multiple apartment rental properties through his Hamilton Company.

His name was synonymous (to some) with “slum lord” or “crook” in the 1980′s when it was discovered that he had paid off a Boston city official in order to get a building permit (the Globe and Herald covered it, extensively).

Well, after pleading guilty to the charge and a bout with bankruptcy in the early 1990′s, he’s back in the real estate race.

According to the Wall Street Journal:

In one of the largest U.S. apartment acquisitions this year, Mr. Brown has paid about $129.5 million for a suburban Boston apartment complex.

The property is the Dexter Park apartments in Brookline.

Mr. Brown estimates Dexter Park, which is 94%-occupied and gets average monthly rents of about $2,700, would have fetched as much as $150 million two years ago. The property produces a cash flow before debt service of $8.2 million. With annual debt service of about $5 million, that leaves a leveraged return on equity of about 8%.

Not bad for an 84-year old.

Image courtesy The Hamilton Company

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The plan, submitted by New York-based Goldman Properties and Archon Group, the real estate arm of Wall Street titan Goldman Sachs, would comprise 315,000 square feet, of which 259,000 square feet would be dedicated to residential space. That footprint is considerably smaller than the developers’ prior plan to build two buildings at the site.

Goldman Properties has been an active buyer (and seller) of properties in the neighborhood during the past several years but has delayed any new construction due to the lack of stability in the residential and commercial real estate markets, which has led to resentment from neighborhood residents.

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