Northland takes page from automakers

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The company, , announced it is launchingb a Rent Assurance Program that is being rolleds out acrossthe Newton-based company’s entire portfolio. The company’ s multifamily holdings total 16,670 units in nine Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Arizona. In Massachusetts, Northland owns 1,23 apartment units in Danvers, Quincy, Westborough and Worcester. The programj resembles those announced by automakeres such as and to boost sales from wary consumerss who are tightening their belts in anticipatiojn of potentialjob losses.
Hyunda recently announced a new and improved version of its HyundaiAssurance Program, whicj enables some customers to turn their cars back in to dealeres if they get laid off withibn a year. Hyundai’s new Assurance Plus program will covefr three months of car paymentsz while the buyer looks for anew job. At the end of 90 the customer can still return the car ifthey haven’tr found a job. Likewise, Ford’s “Advantage Plan” covers payments of up to $700 per montj for as long as a year for buyerd who have beenlaid off.
Much like the desperate measureds car manufacturers are taking to sell cars in one of the worstt economic climatesin decades, Northland’s program enables its residents to “wal k away from his or her lease, withouft paying termination fees,” in the evenf that the person involuntarily loses his or her The program is available to new residentsx and residents who renew leases. Time will tell if Northland’sd program helps it sign up new tenantas inits buildings. Generally, residents sign long-termm leases that are extremely hard to break withouylegal intervention.
According to publishede reports, Hyundai saw sales increase 14 percent in the month the AssurancePrograj launched, while U.S. salez were the weakest for the month in27 years. “Inb these challenging economic times, we believe it’ s important to offer our residents peaceof mind,” Northlanfd Vice President Diane Yensen said in a “Losing your income can be a scary situation, and provides our residents with an ‘out’ in the event that they involuntarily lose their job and need to breakm their lease.” Northland owns $2.1 billion of apartmen properties totaling 19 million squares feet and has a developmenrt pipeline in excess of $1 billion.
was awarded the leasing assignment for 399Boylston St., a 13-story, 228,820-square-foot office building in Boston’s Back Bay. The buildinvg has one vacant floor, said Duncah Gratton, a partner at DTZ/FHO Partners. will vacates 8,900 square feet and another tenant, McNamew Lawrence & Co., is leaving 4,600p square feet at the end of the said Gratton, who noted the building is 8 percent vacantr today. New tenants will be asked to pay in thelow $40s-per-square-fooy range to lease space in the building. Shorenstein Properties LLC purchased the building in March 2007from Rockwood/Abbeyt Fee LLC for an undisclosed price.
At the time the building was 100 percen leased to 14 tenants including NATIXISAsseyt Management, software developer ZANTAZ Inc. and The building’s 14,000 squarw feet of ground-floor retail space is leasee toand . Shorensteinh recently spent $575,000 on lobby renovations and morethan $1 million in repairsz to the building’s exterior and operating systems.