Office Building Sold to Suffolk U. for Dorm Project

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Suffolk University bought a downtown Boston office and retail building for $30 million with plans for a dormitory conversion.

The school acquired the 101 Tremont St. property that includes the Beantown Pub from a New York real estate investor, according to a Suffolk County deed filed Thursday.

Suffolk notified faculty and staff of the pending transaction on Wednesday, according to a Boston Globe report, which quoted a Suffolk memo saying the school was aiming to generate 260 to 290 beds in the conversion.

In a statement issued today, Suffolk University President Marisa Kelly said the school is committed to increasing its on-campus housing.

“Universities located in Boston have an obligation to help with the pressure on housing supply caused by students in private units. Suffolk takes that obligation seriously,” Kelly said in the statement.

The school’s institutional master plan, submitted in 2020 to the Boston Planning & Development Agency, states that 2,638 Suffolk students lived off-campus within the city of Boston.

In 2019, Suffolk bought the former Ames Hotel for a dorm conversion with capacity for 300 beds.

The 101 Tremont St. property previously sold for $50.1 million in 2016 to New York-based GLL Real Estate Partners, according to a Suffolk County deed.