Lease Spotlights 75 Sylvan St. Rebirth as Brookwood Financial Fills Largest Asset in Park

DANVERS, MA—Despite thriving for decades as a light bulb manufacturing plant, 75 Sylvan St. (pictured) began the new millennium cloaked in darkness, and one failed repositioning after another gave little hope that the cavernous 273,000-sf complex would ever emerge from its shadowy recesses. The gloomy outlook seemed even more entrenched once 75 Sylvan St. sunk into a black hole of foreclosure two years ago this month, saddled by a $27 million mortgage and economic bust that cratered leasing activity throughout suburban Boston.

Flash forward to today, however, and the three-building, 16-acre park is awash in sunny optimism thanks to an overhaul by Brookwood Financial Partners. Based next door in Beverly, Brookwood secured 75 Sylvan St. in May 2010 for $10.3 million, then parlayed its low basis by launching an aggressive campaign. Capital improvements, competitive pricing and an experienced leasing team from Colliers International produced immediate results, highlighted by the signing of growing healthcare services firm HCPro last August.

“It has been a whirlwind,” Brookwood asset manager Elizabeth R. Sarni recounts this week in announcing another milestone underscoring the project’s turnaround. A five-year lease extension and expansion by tenant Swervepoint! will put 75 Sylvan St.’s largest structure, Building A, at 100 percent occupancy in a 23,300-sf pact that Sarni concurs has her company beaming. “We’re absolutely thrilled,” she says. The lease-up strategy “has been an absolute home run.”

Colliers brokers representing Brookwood include Senior VP Matthew Daniels, Associate Christopher Decembrele and Assistant VP Andrew Whipple. Tenant broker Mark Reardon also feels a measure of satisfaction in helping 75 Sylvan St. return to life, with the CBRE/New England principal having toiled on earlier efforts to reposition the sprawling property. “Brookwood has done a really nice job there,” says Reardon, joined by colleague Jake Borden in advising Swervepoint! The changes and strong stewardship enticed his client to move its Billerica operations to the park where another Swervepoint! division had been and will continue to occupy nearly 7,000 sf in Building B, explains Reardon.

Building A has 90,000 sf, of which Swervepoint! will fill a bit more than 16,000 sf. HCPro’s 41,000-sf lease and another tenant have brought occupancy from zero to 100 percent in that structure, while the park overall has jumped from 39 percent when Brookwood took control to the 80 percent level. Sarni says the leasing team continues to deliver prospects, offering hope the remaining space will also soon have takers. “We’re encouraged,” she says of the interest.

Swervepoint! had about 18 months remaining on its prior lease when the extension discussions began, reports Reardon, who declined to offer specifics of the new lease. Brookwood also remained mum on that aspect.