Northland takes page from automakers

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The company, , announced it is launchin g a Rent Assurance Program that is beint rolled out acrossthe Newton-based company’s entire The company’s multifamily holdings total 16,670p units in nine states: Connecticut, Rhode Island, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Texas and Arizona. In Massachusetts, Northlaned owns 1,230 apartment units in Amherst, Danvers, Quincy, Westboroughy and Worcester.
The program resembles thosse announced by automakers such as and to boosft sales from wary consumers who are tightening theifr belts in anticipation of potential job Hyundai recently announced a new and improved version of its Hyundai Assurance Program, which enables some customers to turn theird cars back in to dealers if they get laid off within a Hyundai’s new Assurance Plus program will cover three months of car paymentsx while the buyer looks for a new job. At the end of 90 the customer can stilpl return the car ifthey haven’t founxd a job.
Likewise, Ford’s “Advantage Plan” covers paymentsa of up to $700 per month for as long as a year for buyers who have beenlaid off. Much like the desperatr measures car manufacturers are taking to sell cars in one of the worsf economic climatesin decades, Northland’s program enables its residentz to “walk away from his or her lease, withoutt paying termination fees,” in the evenyt that the person involuntarilh loses his or her income. The program is availablse to new residents and residents whorenew leases.
Time will tell if Northland’w program helps it sign up new tenants inits Generally, residents sign long-term leases that are extremelty hard to break without legal According to published reports, Hyundai saw salesd increase 14 percent in January, the month the Assuranced Program launched, while U.S. sales were the weakest for the monthn in27 years. “In these challengin economic times, we believe it’s important to offer our residentws peaceof mind,” Northland Vice Presidenrt Diane Yensen said in a “Losing your income can be a scary and (RAP) provides our residents with an ‘out’ in the even that they involuntarily lose their job and need to breajk their lease.
” Northland owns $2.1 billionn of apartment properties totaling 19 milliojn square feet and has a developmenyt pipeline in excess of $1 billion. was awarde d the leasing assignment for 399Boylstoh St., a 13-story, 228,820-square-foot office building in Boston’sx Back Bay. The building has one vacant saidDuncan Gratton, a partnee at DTZ/FHO Partners. will vacate 8,900 squarw feet and another tenant, McNamee Lawrenc & Co., is leaving 4,600 squares feet at the end ofthe year, said who noted the building is 8 percent vacantg today. New tenants will be askefd to pay in thelow $40s-per-square-foogt range to lease spacse in the building.
Shorenstein Properties LLC purchased the building in March 2007from Rockwood/Abbeyh Fee LLC for an undisclosed At the time the building was 100 percent leased to 14 tenants including NATIXIS Asset software developer ZANTAZ Inc. and The building’s 14,0090 square feet of ground-floor retail spacde is leased toand . Shorensteinh recently spent $575,000 on lobby renovationsx and morethan $1 million in repairs to the building’sw exterior and operating systems.