February 8, 2024

Holland opens 45-story Ayer, with 430 Denny Triangle units

Photo by Brian Miller [enlarge]

This view looks west down Virginia at Ayer.

Holland Partner Group began construction on its 2010 Terry Ave. high rise, now dubbed the Ayer apartments, in the summer of 2020. It's one of two sites the developer had acquired on the same block from Cornish College. And at the very end of December, the city issued a temporary certificate of occupancy for the project.

That TCO covers most of the garage, and levels one through 30 of the 45-story building, which has 430 units.

The Ayer leasing site is now active, with this past Tuesday listed as the initial move-in date. Featured monthly rents include a 457-square-foot studio on a lower floor, which goes for $2,228. A three-bedroom on the 44th floor, with 2,471 square feet, rents for $18,299. (That's available in March, by which time a second TCO should be in hand.) Those penthouse level apartments have a long, long list of amenities.

Income-restricted rents are lower for the units covered by the city's multifamily tax exemption program.

The project, on the corner of Virginia Street, was designed by Weber Thompson, which also designed Holland's 44-story, 393-unit Ivey, at 2019 Boren Ave. That opened last fall, on the north corner of the block.

At the Ayer, five levels of underground parking have about 261 stalls, some with EV charging. One retail/restaurant bay on the corner offers 1,035 square feet. The brokers there are Damian Sevilla and Dale Goong at First Western Properties.

The Ayer team also included NASH (North America Sekisui House), Holland's usual financial partner; Cary Kopczynski & Co., structural engineer; Coughlin Porter Lundeen, civil engineer; Susan Marinello Interiors; ESM Civil, surveyor; Rushing, electrical/plumbing and fire design; Power Design, electrical and lighting design/build; PSF Mechanical, mechanical design; Stirrett Johnsen, plumbing/mechanical design/build; Ground Support, shoring; Morrison Hershfield, envelope; Smith Fire, fire protection; GeoEngineers, geotechnical; Fortune Shepler Saling, elevators; Archecology, LEED consultant. (Weber Thompson was also the landscape architect.)

Some level of LEED certification will be sought for the project, which Weber Thompson rates at 575,380 square feet, including parking and amenities.

Among the latter, tenants will enjoy work pods and conference rooms; a pet spa and dog park; multiple game rooms and lounges; a roof deck on the 46th level of the building, with adjoining “sky lounge” and kitchen; plus a sixth-floor terrace, package room and more.

Holland and NASH paid Cornish $22 million for the corner site, where a small old college building was later removed. That was in 2019, when a related NASH entity provided a $205 million construction loan.