Middlesex Green Playing Market Right; Sign Nine New Tenants Via A/Y

May 16, 2018 — By Joe Clements

Middlesex Green, Concord MA

CONCORD — With nine new tenants signed in a flurry here at Middlesex Green, there is plenty of work going on at the five-building office park AT 561 Virginia Rd., but play also gets top billing at the 300,000-sf complex owned by Paradigm Properties and whose exclusive leasing agent is Avison Young.

“The property takes convenience a step further,” AY principal Jack Kerrigan relays in pointing to such elements as a basketball court, bike rentals, disc golf and bucolic community gardens on the premises aspects which complement a new fitness center plus Wellbeats virtual fitness studio. “Paradigm really thought of everything,” Kerrigan says in praising the steward’s capital improvements campaign and understanding what amenities are recruiting tools for employers, a combination that now has the park up to 16 occupants following the latest commitment, a just-signed 9,125-sf pact byApplied Physical Sciences Corp.

“We are impressed with what we are seeing to start the year, and there is some very encouraging activity continuing as we the second quarter,” Kerrigan says of the leasing team that includes Senior VP Tom Aitken, Associate Chris Adams and Senior Account Manager Anne M.Flanagan. A half-dozen fit out projects arepresently underwaythanks to the robust results, AY reports.

Represented by Kevin McNamara of Cushman & Wakefield, Applied Physical Sciences Corp. joins either other new denizens of Middlesex Green whose leases range from 1,200 sf up to 7,000 sf, those being AB Biosciences, Aerodiagnostics, Alta Dynamics, Applied Biomath, Dinardo Design, the Massachusetts Academy of Trial Attorneys, New England Employee Benefits Council and Welocalize. Details of the commitments were not divulged, but Paradigm principal John Caldwell says Middlesex Green rents run in the mid-$20s per sf, a healthy rate yet still offering a discount to buildings right on Route 128.

One challenge heretofore, according to Caldwell, has been for prospects to merely take a look at the park, the reluctance being a sense the four-mile trek along Route 2A is too far for tenant requirements. Both Caldwell and Kerrigan say the stream of deals in 2018 indicates such hesitation is fleeting. “Tenants and brokers are realizing just how accessible the buildings are,” Kerrigan says, with Caldwell estimating the drive time to be a half-dozen minutes down a roadway often bereft of traffic. “There are some buildings you can see from Route 128 that you can’t get to in six minutes,” he observes.

Once at the park, prospects can be quickly smitten, says Kerrigan, the level of amenities “rare” for a suburban office location. Caldwell concurs the strategy was to give companies the most modern systems and technology such as WiFi throughout the complex, but also the ability to seek a less stressful environment. “It is like being in a city park,” says Caldwell. “It is beautiful and there are a lot of things you can do.” Sustainability is one mantra of the development which Paradigm acquired in summer 2014 when the previous owner turned the park back to its lender.

Paradigm, which has already harvested one asset there, paid approximately $12.5 million, according to Registry of Deeds records. Cambridge Savings Bank loaned $21.8 million for acquisition and improvements to the park that can accommodate a range of uses including office, laboratory and research space.

Avison Young advised Paradigm on the nine completed leases, for which Allison Hoffman of Cresa advised New England Benefits Council. CBRE Vice President Patrick Joyce negotiated terms for AB Biosciences, Vihann Kong of Town and Main was broker for Applied Biomath and Kate Lien of C&W represented Dinardo Design. Chris Adams was agent for the Massachusetts Academy of Trial Attorneys.