40 Berkeley Street Property Sold for $8.5 Million

The Boston YWCA’s residence hall at 40 Berkeley Street has been sold for a reported $8.5 million to two South End residents, a management company, and a local non-profit.

The 75,000-square foot building was purchased by Maloney Management Inc., South End residents Georgia Murray and Mark Maloney, and local nonprofit Project Place, the Banker & Tradesman reported on Monday.

The City of Boston assisted in the sale.

"The new ownership of 40 Berkeley represents the best opportunity to stabilize this important property and to upgrade it in keeping with the city's and the neighborhood's best interests," Mayor Thomas M. Menino said in a statement.

Project Place currently operates Betty’s Place - a residential program for women in transition - at the 40 Berkeley location. According to Executive Director Suzanne Kenney, becoming part-owners of the building was a way to preserve the program – and possibly expand it.

“It was unclear if a private buyer would have a similar interest in preserving the program,” she said on Tuesday. “We’d like to get it back to the numbers” we had prior to budget cuts in 2003.

Betty’s Place currently offers 15 rooms to women making the transition from homelessness to independent living. The facility used to house 25 residents, but is now only able to accommodate about a third of its waiting list, Kenney said. Her goal is to expand to 55 beds.

“We know there is a need, especially for women,” she said. “These are women who have fallen on hard times, they need a place to live.”

Project Place will now own 30 percent of the building, and will be responsible for managing its affordable housing component. South End residents Georgia Murray and Mark Maloney and the building’s current management company, Wellesley-based Maloney Properties, Inc., own the remaining 70 percent.

Janet Frazier, president of Maloney Properties, Inc., told the Banker & Tradesman that the company hopes to make improvements to portions of the building. offers affordable hostel-style accommodations to international travelers and students from the .

"The building represented an opportunity to carry on the great work being done here, while investing in an upgrade in the building and the neighborhood, to make it an even more successful South End institution," Frazier was quoted as saying.