READING, MA-Since acquiring 55 Walkers Brook Dr. here a year ago this past June, Nordic Properties has implemented several strategies to capitalize on the 14-acre office development, including selling one building to a user and creating restaurant pads that will add two national eateries to the formula. And now the Burlington-based firm has found another revenue raiser–renting the office space.
Aided by listing agents DTZ FHO Partners, Nordic has landed two solid credit tenants who will occupy the lower floors of the property's centerpiece, a six-story, 136,000-sf office building that housed Northrop Grumman until that defense firm departed north to Andover last year. After acquiring 55 Walkers Brook Dr. for $18.5 million in June 2006, Nordic set about readying the asset for multi-tenanted use, finally leading to commitments by coffeemaker maker Keurig Inc. for 37,000 sf and Sentinel Benefits, an employee benefits company that is taking 31,000 sf.
“Both leases are now signed,” Nordic principal Todd Fremont-Smith confirms to GlobeSt.com, bringing occupancy to 50%. Another bonus, he notes, is that the un-let space is the most valuable, being located on the top two floors. Activity has been brisk on the remaining portion, says Fremont-Smith, who joined Peter Nordblom in representing the landlord on the office leases in conjunction with the DTZ FHO Partners team of Michael Dalton, Brian Hines and Michael O'Leary. Meredith & Grew SVP Matt Daniels and Associate Chris Lawrence negotiated terms for Sentinel Benefits, while Keith Gurtler and Dan Kollar of Jones Lang LaSalle were brokers for Keurig.
Hines credits Nordic for making the necessary investments to attract office users. “There are a lot of really nice things happening there,” says Hines. “We've got some great momentum.” The project has opened up 55 Walkers Brook Dr. for the first time, with the complex initially built in the mid-1980s for the Analytic Sciences Corp., followed by the occupancy of security conscious Northrop Grumman. The mixed-use office environment and the restaurants, one a Bertucci's and the other a Longhorn Steakhouse, are expected to enliven the property. That element is expected to be further enhanced by a rash of development occurring along Walkers Brook Drive itself.
Although directly off Route 128 in the northern tier of suburban Boston, Walkers Brook Drive languished as a commercial real estate destination, but the opening of a 33-acre lifestyle center across the street earlier this decade has permanently changed the landscape. “It used to be very quiet, but not any more,” concurs Fremont-Smith. “You've got everything you want right there.” The lifestyle center includes an IMAX Theater, Home Depot and Jordan's Furniture, plus numerous restaurants, while two grocery superstores are also being built adjacent to 55 Walkers Brook Dr.
The Walkers Brook Drive activity is occurring amidst a rebound in suburban Boston's office market. The North market has seen asking rents increase from $18.08 per sf at mid-year to $18.75 at the end of the third quarter, according to JLL. Parties involved in the Keurig and Sentinel Benefits leases declined to offer specifics of the rental rate, but sources put the figure for both in the low $20-per-sf range. The duration on the Keurig lease is eight years and Sentinel has signed on for seven years.
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