Northland takes page from automakers

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The company, , announced it is launching a Rent Assuranc Program that is being rolled out acrosesthe Newton-based company’s entirer portfolio. The company’s multifamily holdings totakl 16,670 units in nine states: Connecticut, Rhode Island, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Arizona. In Massachusetts, Northlans owns 1,230 apartment units in Amherst, Danvers, Quincy, Westborougn and Worcester.
The program resembles thoswe announced by automakers such as and to boost salesd from wary consumers who are tightening their belts in anticipatiob of potential job Hyundai recently announced a new and improved versionn of its HyundaiAssurance Program, which enablesa some customers to turn their cars back in to dealerw if they get laid off within a year. Hyundai’s new Assurancr Plus program will cover three months of car payments whiles the buyer looks for anew job. At the end of 90 the customer can still return the car ifthey haven’f found a job.
Likewise, Ford’zs “Advantage Plan” covers payments of up to $700 per monthg for as long as a year for buyers who have beenlaid off. Much like the desperates measures car manufacturers are taking to sell cars in one of the worstg economic climatesin Northland’s program enables its residents to “walkk away from his or her without paying termination fees,” in the event that the person involuntarilgy loses his or her income. The program is available to new residents and residents whoreneqw leases. Time will tell if Northland’s programk helps it sign up new tenants inits buildings.
residents sign long-term leases that are extremely hard to bream withoutlegal intervention. According to published reports, Hyundaik saw sales increase 14 percent in the month the AssuranceProgramk launched, while U.S. sales were the weakest for the month in27 years. “Ib these challenging economic webelieve it’s important to offed our residents peace of mind,” Northland Vice President Dianre Yensen said in a statement. “Losing your incomee can be a scary situation, and (RAP) provides our residentsd with an ‘out’ in the event that they involuntarily lose theier job and need to breaktheir lease.” Northland owns $2.
1 billion of apartment properties totaling 19 milliojn square feet and has a development pipeline in excese of $1 billion. was awarded the leasing assignment for 399Boylston St., a 228,820-square-foot office building in Boston’s Back Bay. The building has one vacant floor, said Duncan Gratton, a partnee at DTZ/FHO Partners. will vacatre 8,900 square feet and another tenant, McNamew Lawrence & Co., is leaving 4,60o square feet at the end of the year, said who noted the building is 8 percenyvacant today. New tenants will be asked to pay in thelow $40s-per-square-fooyt range to lease spacde in the building.
Shorenstein Properties LLC purchasedr the building in March 2007from Rockwood/Abbey Fee LLC for an undiscloseds price. At the time the buildinhg was 100 percent leased to 14 tenants including NATIXISaAsset Management, software developerd ZANTAZ Inc. and The building’s 14,000 squar e feet of ground-floor retail spacwe is leased toand . Shorenstein recently spent $575,000 on lobby renovations and morethan $1 millionh in repairs to the building’s exterioe and operating systems.