Deals in Andover’s Minuteman Park Total $341M

Eight properties in Andover, Massachusetts, Minuteman Park have traded hands for a total of $341 million. Atlantic Management and Spear Street Capital sold the properties in separate transactions. Minuteman Park is a corporate campus located 25 miles north of Boston. A single assemblage buyer purchased the properties.

Atlantic Management sold 3000 Minuteman Road for $190 million, while Spear Street Capital sold 30, 100 and 200 Minuteman Road and 138 River Road for $151 million. The properties total 1.3 million square feet, and include office, R&D and laboratory space.

Newmark co-head of U.S. capital markets Robert Griffin, vice chairman Edward Maher, executive managing director Matthew Pullen and managing director Samantha Hallowell of the firm’s Boston Capital Markets Group represented the sellers and procured the buyer in the transactions.

According to Pullen, the properties represent a “exceptional assemblage opportunity,” allowing the new owner to either alter layouts and floor plates to accommodate a wide range of tenants, or develop the property in the future.

Built as a suburban office campus, the property is located near one of the biggest life science markets in the country. The life science market has been on fire since the start of the pandemic, creating a supply-demand imbalance in the largest US cities, with companies seeking nearly 24 million square feet of new real estate in the third quarter alone. That figure exceeds the amount of lab space under spec construction, according to research from CBRE, by nearly 2.8 million square feet. Plus, the pace of demand shows no sign of slowing, the firm maintains: even as construction ramps up, demand continues apace, driven in part by the ongoing need for vaccines for COVID-19 and other viruses.

The activity in the life science industry has been a blessing for the office market, which has continued to struggle to find its footing. Due to the omicron variant, many office tenants are questioning whether the market is continuing to soften. On the hunt for advantageous deals, occupiers are pondering renegotiating existing leases or reducing their footprint to remain competitive in a tight labor market. However, tenants have not yet seen significant reductions in office leasing.