Prescott Street office building sells for $16M

A Boston-based hedge fund manager has purchased an office building in the former Washburn and Moen North Works complex for $16 million, with plans to renovate it to attract more tenants. Bonaventure Holdings, a Boston-based entity managed by Griffin and Carolyn Rolander, purchased a majority interest in the site at 85 Prescott St. in a deal finalized last week, according to Worcester District Registry of Deeds records.  Griffin Rolander is head of quantitative analytics and business development of Boston’s Monashee Investment Management, according to his LinkedIn profile.  The purchase included the four-story, 94,769-square-foot building and adjacent parking lot at 85 Prescott St., along with a roughly one-acre parking lot across Prescott Street.   The sites were purchased from entities managed by Franklin-based real estate investor Karim Jouki, who had purchased them for $18.3 million in 2022.  The buildings are now about 60% occupied, according to Ronnie Papa of Smith and Oak Real Estate Co. in Providence. Papa served as listing broker for the transaction along with John Willette, also of Smith and Oak. Tenants at the site include Worcester Polytechnic Institute’s Massachusetts Academy of Math & Science and other WPI-related offices. Papa said several tenants have moved out in recent years, but the new owner plans to invest around $2 million in the site to upgrade the vacant spaces. The building at the site makes up part of the former Washburn and Moen North Works complex. Founded in 1831, Washburn & Moen manufactured wires for uses including telegraphs, piano and hoop skirts, according to the website for regional tourism group Discover Central Massachusetts. Bonaventure Holdings now holds an 80% interest in the site, with Walter Salyer of Texas holding 19%, and Carolyn Rolander holding an additional 1%, according to registry records. The property is part of the Washburn and Moen North Works District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The sites received a combined 2026 assessment of $11.86 million, according to City of Worcester property records.  Eric Casey is the managing editor at Worcester Business Journal, and primarily covers the real estate and banking & finance industries.