New Owners Plan Significant Renovations at Newton Property

After renovations are complete, Wells Center will be repositioned as Wells Park.

NEWTON, MA—Having purchased the Wells Avenue office complex here less than two months ago, the partnership of Jumbo Capital Management, LLC and Angelo Gordon & Co. now plan to undertake significant renovations to the 330,000-square-foot complex. Officials with Jumbo Capital and newly hired exclusive leasing agent Newmark Grubb Knight Frank discussed with Globest.com their plans for the Class A office property. The new ownership acquired the buildings at 7/57 Wells Ave. and 75-85-95 Wells Ave. this past March for $62.3 million from Normandy Real Estate Partners. NGKF’s Matt Malatesta, managing director, Mark Roth, executive managing director, Brendan Daly, managing director, and Blake McLaughlin, associate director, are leading the brokerage team in leasing the properties. Although Jumbo Capital officials would not disclose the exact cost of the improvements, Berns says the ownership is “underway with a multi-million dollar renovation of both buildings that we anticipate will be completed this summer.” Hirsh adds that the capital improvements are geared to updating and modernizing the signage, the entry points and the amenities. He adds that the initiative will also involve adding some amenities to the buildings as well. The two buildings, formerly known as Wells Center, will now be repositioned as Wells Park. The new name and renovations are also intended to bring connectivity to the two buildings. “Wells Park offers tenants a great opportunity to lease newly upgraded, creative office space within the highly sought after N2 corridor” says NGKF’s Malatesta. “Once renovated by Jumbo Capital, Wells Park will offer the best combination of scale, amenities and location.” He adds that the N2 corridor is becoming an innovation district of sorts, attracting a host of start-up companies, laboratory and software concerns, along with conventional office users such as: health care providers, attorneys, as well as finance and general construction firms. In line with the emergence of the N2 corridor, Malatesta says the renovations at Wells Park are to bring a “more modern, hipper, cooler vibe in the properties.” Interior and exterior improvements, upgrades to the café, fitness center and 80-person conference facility as well as outdoor patio seating, bocce courts and brand new lobbies and common areas. The café will be converted into a 24-hour venue to accommodate tenants that work after conventional business hours end. Berns says that while the buildings “have great bones,” the property was last upgraded 10 years ago and was in need of some improvements. The buildings are currently between 90% to 95% leased, but are expected to have tenant roll over in the next 24 months involving approximately 35% of the leased space. Both Berns and Hirsh say that the tenant roll over was one reason Jumbo Capital was interested in the property. Its diverse tenant roster and location in the N2 corridor were other factors in its decision to invest in the asset. Once the renovations are complete, the ownership will look to secure the vacant space at higher rents, they add. Among the major tenants at the property include Shark Ninja, data storage giant EMC Corp. and independent retirement and college savings service provider Acensus. Among the tenants that plan to vacate the property in the near future is Shark Ninja, which occupies approximately 40,000 square feet at the property. The firm is consolidating its operations and will be moving its operations to a new 160,000-square-foot building at the former General Dynamics site next year. “We’ve seen tremendous tenant activity already and a very positive response to our plans for extensive renovations,” Hirsh says.