Sublease for 60,000 SF Inked at Ward Hill

HAVERHILL, MA-A sublease here encompassing 60,000 sf of flex/industrial space is giving the Interstate 495 North market a second-quarter boost, as Spinnaker Management will move an affiliate’s operations next week to 148 Ward Hill in the Ward Hill Business Park. The 86,000-sf building is owned by STAG Capital Partners of Boston, as part of a two-asset portfolio totaling 270,000 sf, that includes the adjacent 200 Ward Hill.

The mixed-use complex is leased for 10 years to Globalware Solutions, but through efficiencies that company had found most of 148 Ward Hill to be surplus, explains Cushman & Wakefield Senior Director Richard Ruggiero, who represented the sublessor along with C&W Director Matthew Adams. Colliers Meredith & Grew AVP Christopher Lawrence was agent for Spinnaker Management, which struck a five-year agreement to occupy a mix of light assembly and warehouse in the two-story facility. Globalware is retaining the area not used by Spinnaker for its own use.

Although most industrial market reports for Greater Boston showed negative net absorption in the opening quarter, including a Jones Lang LaSalle survey estimating minus 77,000 sf for I-495 North, Ruggiero says velocity in the region has been brisk. “I’m encouraged by the activity out there right now,” Ruggiero tells GlobeSt.com, particularly among users needing 30,000 to 50,000 sf. Negotiations are tending to take longer, Ruggiero accedes, but he voices confidence that a number of pending requirements will land as the mid-year mark approaches.