Janelon Pays $7M for Lab/Office Building

MARLBOROUGH, MA-A private firm with deep roots in the Greater Boston real estate market has purchased, through an affiliate, a two-story laboratory/office building here in Boston’s MetroWest suburbs, as locally-based Janelon Trust pays Northland Investment Corp. $7.1 million for 33 Locke Dr. The 61,000-sf property is almost fully occupied by life sciences company Sepracor Inc.

The buyer’s family is best known for its Shops at Whitinsville mill restoration in Northbridge and projects in downtown Boston. Endeavors there include, Janelon’s longtime home in the Downtown Crossing District, overhauled in the 1970s by Sidney Covich, who died in 2004 at the age of 85, still negotiating real estate deals. One of his most prominent undertakings was the 1980s’ renovation of 600 Washington St. near Boston’s Chinatown. Covering a full city block, the structure was upgraded during the area’s darkest days, but managed to attract a bevy of public service agencies and back office users. Coincidentally, 600 Washington St. is now owned by Newton-based Northland.

Janelon Trust is affiliated with WRT Management, run by Leonard Jolles, Covich’s son-in-law and former partner. Efforts to contact Jolles and Northland officials by press deadline were unsuccessful. R.W. Holmes Realty orchestrated the Locke Dr. deal, with VP Bill Sullivan representing Janelon and principal Garry Holmes handling the sales campaign for Northland. Among the attractions for Janelon, Holmes explains, was the ability to acquire a well-constructed building below replacement cost in an improving office market. “Marlborough is finally seeing some rent appreciation,” says the veteran broker, noting a continued migration of companies from the tight Framingham and Natick markets to Interstate 495 West, which has rebounded in the past two years after being hit by the technology crash that began in 2001.