VinCo has acquired more than 2.5 million sf of commercial real estate since its founding by president Vince O'Neill in 2001. Other local properties are in such communities as Foxborough, Shrewsbury and Wilmington and feature a mix of industrial, laboratory, office, retail and residential space. Among the most ambitious undertakings is VinCo's Chestnut Green project in Foxborough where the Boston-based company is creating a 136-acre mixed-use community at the site of a former state hospital. The initiative in the Interstate 495 South corridor includes 100,000 sf of office space and 55,000 sf of retail in addition to a residential component and 40-acre recreation complex.
As for the Woburn property, VinCo was among the first real estate investment groups to gamble that the community was set to rebound after a difficult stretch earlier in the decade when office vacancy rates soared close to 40%. VinCo paid $4.1 million for 78 Dragon Ct. in Sept. 2006 before launching a capital improvements program of the 28-year-old asset and retaining Colliers Meredith & Grew SVP Matt Daniels to fill the empty space. One coup occurred last summer when a state agency took approximately 40,000 sf, and another 17,000 sf was leased by Neighborhood Diabetes in November.
One source maintains VinCo is rebranding 78 Dragon Ct. as 15 Commonwealth, but that could not be confirmed. Calls to VinCo and CM&G EVP and investment sales chief Lisa Campoli were not returned by press deadline. Sources say the sales team will include Campoli, Daniels, Katie Barry and Nicholas Herz. It is unclear whether the building will be marketed with an asking price.
Woburn has seen new supply added of late, most notably the 550,000 sf TradeCenter 128 being developed on a speculative basis by Cummings Properties. Meanwhile, the Campanelli Cos. recently acquired a building on Presidential Way and recently received a permit to expand that property. Even so, Colliers Meredith & Grew's research group puts vacancy rate for the Route 128 Northwest region at 14.2%, fourth tightest among nine suburban submarkets tracked and well below the suburban average of 17.7%. The submarket of 21 million sf outpaced all others in 2007 with an impressive 2.2 million sf of positive net absorption, more than twice that of the next closest, Interstate 495 North, which posted one million sf, CM&G reports.
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