Piedmont Pays $85.3M to Snag 460,000-SF Raytheon Complex in Woburn; C&W Reps Invesco

WOBURN, MA—A Georgia-based investment firm today acquired two prime suburban corporate properties here off Interstate 93 that are leased to defense giant Raytheon Corp. Pricing for 225 and 235 Presidential Way was $85.3 million in a deal negotiated by Cushman & Wakefield. The purchase by Piedmont Realty Group encompasses 460,000 sf of first Class office space, plus a four-story parking garage.

Calls to C&W’s Capital Markets Group in Boston and Invesco in its Dallas office were not immediately returned, while efforts to contact Piedmont officials were also unsuccessful, but Registry of Deeds records indicate the trade has been consummated. The transaction represents one of the largest suburban sales of 2011 in New England, although Greater Boston has seen a number of significant office properties change hands already, including a second Woburn office park that separately yielded $78 million this summer. Meanwhile, another national player has just scooped up 250 Royall St. in Westwood for $57 million, a deal orchestrated by CBRE/NE.

Invesco acquired 225 and 235 Presidential Way in Aug. 2004, soon after Raytheon Corp. committed to lease the entire complex from the developer who constructed the buildings in 2000 as the centerpiece of MetroNorth Corporate Center. The complex features multiple office and flex buildings, plus a Marriott Hotel. The master-planned park was created by National Development and partnered by Angelo Gordon & Co.

The other Woburn office park sale this summer involved National Development on the receiving end, as the Newton firm partnered with Charles River Realty Investors to buy Unicorn Office Park, a 600,000-sf portfolio two exits south of Metro North on Interstate 93. Eastdil Secured brokered that sale.

Woburn is in one of suburban Boston’s busiest office submarkets, with the Route 128 North belt landing a bevy major leases in 2011, making it among the few regions operating on the plus side of the net absorption scale and even posting rental rate increases for top product. As for 225 and 235 Presidential Way, observers cite Raytheon’s long-term lease that some estimate extends another eight years as being a key attraction to bidders. “It was hot,” one source says of interest in the assets. The C&W Capital Markets Group is led by Robert E. Griffin Jr., Edward C. Maher Jr., plus David J. Pergola.