Boston’s Five Most Expensive Apartment Buildings

Some are sky high.

But which Hub buildings have the highest rent?

I had to know.

So, I reviewed the information in the Sue Hawkes presentation (made at a recent NAIOP MASSACHUSETTS event) which had details concerning 39 of Hub’s most expensive rental properties.

And then, I ranked them.

Here are the five most valuable Hub rental building based on their average asking price per square foot:

The fifth most expensive apartment building in the Hub is Avalon North Point Lofts, which was built in 2014 and is located at 10 Glassworks Ave, Cambridge. ANPL hugely benefitted in this ranking by having ultra-small ­– shall we say “micro” sized – apartments. According to ANPL’s website, their apartments are between 329 and 700 square feet, and according to TCC’s presentation, they have an average asking rent of $5.20 per square foot.

The Hub’s fourth most expensive apartment building is One Back Bay, a handsome brick building located at 135 Clarendon Street and designed by noted architect Robert A.M. Stern. One Back Bay is just three blocks to Newbury Street and only an elevator ride away from Post 390, the building’s first floor restaurant tenant. The 2009-era concierge building has a rooftop sundeck, a ton of other amenities, and an average asking rent of $5.36 per square foot.

The area’s third most expensive apartment building is Avalon Exeter, a 2015 addition to the Avalon collection of newly constructed Hub concierge apartment buildings.  Avalon Exeter apartments are on average the largest (1136 square feet) of any building in the 39 building survey, a detail which helped AE have the highest average asking rent of any of the 39 properties: $6,153 per month. Incredible! If tenants dedicated a third of their gross income toward paying their AE rent, their income would be about $225K a year. Despite these impressive numbers, the average asking price per square foot for AE was only $5.42, allowing the spanking new luxury apartment building to be topped by two other more expensive Hub properties.

The Hub’s second most expensive apartment building, based on the asking price per square foot, is Watermark Seaport, a 2016 addition to the bustling and increasing in-vogue Seaport District, and a building which – in the midst of Boston apartment amenity wars – claims to have an unmatched amenity collection. Maybe it does, as Watermark Seaport’s amenities include an 18th floor sky deck and refrigerated storage for grocery deliveries. This impressive building’s amenities may be unmatched, but its per square foot price of $5.67 made it only the second most expensive Hub apartment building in the survey.

The most expensive per square foot asking rent for a Hub apartment building, competing in the April 2017 luxury market, goes to…. drum roll, please… tearing the envelope sound please… close up of my ecstatic, smiling face while I try to type the words out… 30 Dalton! At the time of the survey, this incredible Back Bay development – sky lounge and all – was in the midst of lease-up and only 29% occupied. 30 Dalton’s enviable location and high-end finishes allowed it to ask an impressive $5.88 for every luxury square foot.

Well, fantastic job, 30 Dalton. You are new to Boston, a mere rookie in the luxury rental market, but you displayed incredible confidence in asking the most of any building in town.

You set a high mark, but be careful out there – I get the feeling in 2018 the competition will be shooting to equal your rents!