Rivers Edge Property Sold for $80 Million

An annuity fund quietly purchased a luxury apartment complex on Rivers Edge Drive in April for nearly twice its assessed value, according to data from the registry of deeds.

The Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association, better known as TIAA-CREF, spent $79,950,000 on 100 Rivers Edge Drive in Medford, according to the deed transfer, dated April 12, 2011. The parcel was last assessed in January 2010 at $45 million.

Medford - along with Everett and Malden - will likely have to wait until 2013, when the property is slated for re-assessment, to see any additional tax revenue, Medford Assessor Ed O'Neil said. 

"Those types of institution investors pay a premium for properties," O'Neil said. "But we don't know how much that premium was."

The property was sold to TIAA-CREF by Residences at Rivers Edge, a limited liability corporation that lists Criterion Property Company of Dallas, Texas as its principal office.

Residences at Rivers Edge purchased the parcel from the Mystic Valley Development Commission for $13.3 million in April 2008 and developed the 222-unit apartment complex by December 2009. The land is a former brownfield remediation site.

The parcel is part of the River's Edge project, which spans parts of Medford, Malden and Everett. It is overseen by the Mystic Valley Development Commission and subject to different tax regulations from most municipal land, O'Neil said.

Rather than pay a municipal property tax, the land is part of an agreement between Medford, Malden and Everett to pay a fee that is a "blended rate," based on the communties' tax rates. The blended rate is currently $12.30, with 89 percent of the fees going to Medford, O'Neil said. The distribution of the fees is subject to change, depending on where future development occurs.

The 2010 assessment was conducted by an independent third party, O'Neil said.

The city was not notified of the sale when it happened. O'Neil told city councilors the news in a budget meeting Wednesday night.

"That’s enormous,” Council President Robert Maiocco said. “That’s a stunning figure.”