Building Sale Demonstrates Strength of North Shore's Office Sector

DANVERS, MA-In another in a series of recent deals that illustrate the growing appeal of the North Shore for office space, the former Osram Sylvania manufacturing facility here on 75 Sylvan St. has been sold for $5.6 million. The buildings, which had been shut down for the past three years, were sold to a joint venture partnership of developer Robert S. Burr and Gilbane Properties.

Burr and Gilbane plan on creating a business complex, to be called the Sylvan Business Center, out of the three connected buildings with 275,000 sf of space. The 15.2-acre campus will also have surface parking, a courtyard and easy access to local stores as well as Routes 128 and I-95. The developers reportedly project rents to be in the mid $20s per sf, which is well below nearby Cambridge’s $50 per sf to $60 per sf range.

In a released statement, Robert S. Burr said, “Vacancy rates are tight, and consequently lease rates are at record high levels in much of the Boston area office market.” Burr is the principal of College Street Investments, a firm he founded last year after 20 years at Spaulding & Slye Colliers.