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Law360 (April 15, 2020, 4:01 PM EDT) -- Nixon Peabody represented EA Fish Development and Luzern Associates in connection with the venture's roughly $41.8 million sale of a multifamily property in Boston's West Roxbury neighborhood, a deal that was complicated by COVID-19, the law firm told Law360 on Wednesday.
Oak Row Apartments. (Credit: EAFD West Roxbury LLC)
The buyer is ND Oak Row LLC, and the deal closed on Monday. Contact information for the buyer was not immediately available on Wednesday.
Nixon Peabody's Christopher Froeb told Law360 in an interview Wednesday that the sale process was proceeding as usual at first, with the parties signing the purchase and sale agreement earlier this year as scheduled, but then things got complicated as the pandemic escalated.
"Every little logistical hiccup, getting documents physically signed ... property management transitions, all the things that I never hear about became harder," Froeb said.
And as part of the process, the parties had to get estoppel letters from the City of Boston, and the city moved quickly on its part of the deal despite the pandemic, Froeb said.
"Much to our surprise, the City of Boston actually streamlined and expedited the approval process to get this documentation done. Honestly, we were thrilled," Froeb said. "The city kind of joined in ... We don't usually see them work this fast."
EA Fish Development LLC and Luzern Associates LLC recently built the property, completing it in the summer of 2018. Nixon Peabody also helped earlier with the acquisition of the property and development of the building.
EA Fish Development is based in Wellesley, Massachusetts, while Luzern Associates has offices in New Canaan, Connecticut, and in Boston.
Luzern Associates couldn't be immediately reached for comment on Wednesday.
"EA Fish Development, along with our partner at Luzern Associates, is thrilled to have completed yet another successful transaction with guidance from Nixon Peabody," Matthew Mittelstadt, managing director at EA Fish Development, told Law360 on Wednesday. "As usual, Chris [Froeb], Christina [Ricotta] and Julie [Stande] met and exceeded our expectations and brought great energy and legal capability to the table in order to close the deal."
EA Fish Development and Luzern Associates are represented on the sale by Christopher Froeb, Christina Ricotta and Julie Stande of Nixon Peabody LLP.
The buyer handled the transaction in-house.
--Editing by Daniel King.
For a reprint of this article, please contact reprints@law360.com.
