Neighbor edges out bidders for Sun property
It's a spread that proved too tempting to refuse.
With seven first-class office buildings and a manicured campus ripe for expansion, the
"As soon as we learned it was coming on the market, we jumped on it," said Gregory W. Anderson, a spokesman for Nordblom. "And we jumped high."
Nordblom closed on the Network Drive campus June 27. The purchase gives the development and property-management firm control of 300 contiguous acres and more than 2 million square feet of office space between the Middlesex Turnpike and Route 3.
Sun, the second-largest employer in town, will continue to occupy 450,000 square feet of space in some of the buildings on the campus as a long-term tenant. That leaves more than 300,000 square feet open to rent immediately, with Nordblom planning to develop up to 570,000 square feet of additional space on the campus in the coming years.
The purchase and rental interest in the property -- several prospective tenants called immediately after Nordblom closed -- point to the vitality of the Burlington-area office market, which has grown steadily over the last two years after a multiyear slump, those involved in the sale said.
Nordblom officials called the acquisition an affirmation of their long-term stake in town. It also gives them greater master-planning control of the Middlesex Turnpike area, where the company also owns the adjacent Northwest Park, a 42-building, 140-acre office complex that it built in the mid-20th century.
Nordblom hopes to refashion that property over the next two decades into 3.3 million square feet of office, retail, and high-end residential space.
Town Administrator Robert A. Mercier hailed the sale as good news for Burlington, because it will mean local ownership and increased tax revenue from expanded use of the campus.
"It's the best outcome we could have for that property, to have a known entity, Nordblom, with roots here in town, purchasing that site," Mercier said. "We were concerned when we heard the Sun property was going up for sale that we'd get one of the big commercial firms to come in, buy the property, dress it up a little bit, and then turn it around and flip it."
The property is considered the largest unified, first-class office campus in the Boston area, said Scott Jamieson, a national director for
The winning bidder had to be both nimble and aggressive to secure the property, Jamieson said, given the desirability of the property, the complexity of the deal (a purchase and leaseback agreement with Sun), and a tight time frame, because Sun had hoped to complete the sale by June 30.
Todd Fremont-Smith, vice president of development for Nordblom, said the property was especially attractive because of its location next to Northwest Park. "It means we can master plan knowing what's going on over there. We didn't want some group out of New York City buying that site and having us lose control of it," Fremont-Smith said.
Network Drive runs between the turnpike and Route 62 near Route 3. Sun purchased and developed the land a decade ago with plans to erect 10 buildings and employ 4,000 people. The California-based computer maker built seven amenity-rich buildings, including a fitness center and a cafeteria that Jamieson called "probably the nicest" of any Class A office park in the Boston area. But Sun's vision exceeded its actual use; the company employs about 1,750 people in Burlington, second only to the Lahey Clinic.
Sun spokeswoman Kristi Rawlinson said the sale was a move for efficiency, but the company is staying put. "We figured for this Burlington campus, seeing as we were not using a large portion of it, it was best to sell the campus in its entirety and then lease back the portion we were using," she said.
Sun is leasing the 450,000 square feet for 10 years. Nordblom also plans to develop the remaining three buildings that Sun envisioned and could seek permits to begin construction in the next six months, Fremont-Smith said.
The phone began ringing immediately, with rental interest coming from local firms that want to expand as well as from those that want to relocate from Boston and Cambridge or from the more expensive stretch of Route 128 near the Massachusetts Turnpike. Burlington's location at the crossroads of routes 128 and 3 makes it especially attractive to tech firms, Fremont-Smith said.
"There were quite a few tenants waiting to see who was going to be the victor" in the bidding, he said.
Jones Lang LaSalle will stay on to market the property to prospective tenants.
Tamie Thompson, a managing director at Jones Lang LaSalle, said the availability rate -- which measures actively marketed vacancies as well as potential sublease space -- for Class A offices in Burlington has shrunk from about 40 percent to less than 20 percent in the last four years, with the strongest growth in the last two.
That's driven by improvements in the economy and wider market forces, but it is also a testament to Burlington's increased corporate attractiveness, given the recent widening of Route 3, the expansion of the Lahey Clinic, and the development of new shops and restaurants, such as the Wayside Commons plaza, Thompson said.
"It's just so energizing and exciting to see the increased activity," said Thompson, who has spent more than 25 years as a commercial broker in the suburban north and northwest markets. The Sun property is a regional jewel, she said. "There's just so much you can do with the campus."
Eric Moskowitz can be reached at emoskowitz@globe.com. 
