Bay State Commons coming into its own
PHOTO/MATT VOLPINI
Built before the Great Recession, Bay State Commons in Westborough struggled with retail leasing initially, but has slowly added tenants in recent years.
MAP/COURTESY
A 2012 map of Bay State Commons from listing broker Colliers International shows several retail spaces were open for leasing. Some of that space is now occupied.
It was a rough start.
But leasing activity at Westborough’s Bay State Commons, a 55-acre mixed-use development with retail and housing adjacent to downtown and the junction of routes 30 and 135, appears to be picking up, despite early setbacks.
According to Paul Matthews, executive director of the 495 MetroWest Partnership, a regional group promoting sustainable economic development, the effort has paid off.
“They turned a brownfield site into a real innovative model,” he said. “It can’t be overstated that this site was empty, in the middle of downtown. The town more than met [developers] halfway. At the time, it was unheard of for a project of this scale to do a mix of public park, housing and retail space.”
From the beginning, the 2007 Bay State Commons project — which includes 44 luxury apartments and large and small retail units — was different from other mixed-use developments. The brownfields site was home to manufacturer Bay State Abrasives until 2002. As a result, hazardous waste cleanup was needed, and an old manufacturing building had to be demolished.
With a half-million-square-foot contaminated structure on the site, stormwater drainage problems and a host of other complications, serious work was needed before any construction could begin. Enter Waterman Design of Westborough. Owner Randy Waterman said gaining access to Main Street in Westborough was also among the “tons of issues” to deal with.
“This project took four years for zoning, site plan review … and one year for demolition of the old building,” Waterman said. “We wrote a new zoning code to allow the mixed-use there.”
Larger forces
But by the time the town got all those approvals, the fiscal picture had changed, said local Realtor Deb Schradieck, chair of the town’s design review board. Recession hit, complete with higher unemployment and less real estate activity across the country.
“The economy tanked … timing was not good” for leasing space, Westborough Town Manager Jim Malloy remembers.
So, with the Roche Bros. grocery store in place as Bay State Commons’ anchor tenant, attention turned to the on-site condominium complex, Parkview on the Commons, where its 44 units sat vacant.
To nudge residents to move in, an auction was held for 16 of the units. Asking prices for a one-bedroom unit, for example, hovered around $500,000 in 2008; at the auction, starting bids were at 60 percent of that cost.
Real estate developer Matthew Senie bought one of the condos at that auction, and lives there today, with his wife. He called the auction a good move for Parkview and Bay State Commons to spur activity and then build on the momentum with future condo sales.
“They got the values stabilized, and every unit was sold,” he said.
But commercial leasing at Bay State Commons however, has been slower. Since 2010, Senie has seen a Hallmark shop, Sleep Shop and a Verizon store move out — about 10,000 square feet of space vacated. However, a restaurant, real estate office, liquor store, Boston Ski + Tennis, and Boston Interiors all moved in, occupying about 24,000 square feet. Then, in November 2014, Glowgolf, a mini-golf establishment, opened in the 26,000-square-foot space formerly inhabited by Circuit City. All told, Senie estimates Bay State Commons has seen a net gain of about 50,000 square feet occupied over the last five years or so.
Today, Bay State Commons is also home to the only Ted’s Montana Grill and Stein Mart store in New England, along with a Panera Bread, Boston Sports Club, GNC, DeVine Wine & Spirits, TD Bank and Boston Interiors, among others, as well as a host of restaurants and a public park.
Riverbridge
Are there lessons to be learned from Bay State Commons?
In addition to being a Parkview resident, Senie is also general manager of Riverbridge, a mixed-use development to be built in Berlin. The project received a $1.5-million MassWorks Infrastructure Program grant in 2013.
Senie says all permits and approvals are in place, and the shovels should go in this spring.
Homewood Suites by Hilton and a daycare center have signed on as tenants already. Two-hundred and five apartments will be constructed. The project is on 26 acres at the South Berlin rotary, adjacent to the Solomon Pond Mall; 88 acres of the site will remain undeveloped.
But when it comes to timing and substance, Senie sees his project as very different from the development where he lives.
“They’re not apples to apples,” he said. “Riverbridge [with the hotel and 204 housing units] is more a place to sleep, and Bay State, with only 44 housing units, more a place to dine and shop.”
Bad rap?
“There is a perception that there is a lot of vacancy,” said Malloy, the Westborough town manager, of BayState Commons’ retail space.
Part of that, he stated, comes from instances like Linens n Things leaving a large storefront vacant. Though the entire chain of national stores closed — including a shop in Sturbridge — it still seems to resonate as a black mark on Bay State Commons in the court of public opinion.
But Senie says any notion that Bay State Commons is not filling up space is not a fair assessment, especially if you’re going by the number of tenants or open units, and not by the square footage leased.
“It doesn’t look as successful as it is,” he said of the development. The Boston Sports Club gym, for example, is a large facility, at around 20,000 square feet. Due to its location at the eastern edge of Bay State Commons, on a second floor above Stein Mart, “no one knows it’s there, unless you’re a member,” he said. Roche Bros. also takes up a lot of square footage, he noted.
Matthews said the range of square footage within the units also offers “hidden amenities” that can only be seen by visiting. As an example, he cites the Starbucks inside the Roche Bros. store.
Grocery store wars
Schradieck, of the Westborough design review board, said another blow came in 2011, when Wegmans opened in Northborough Crossing. Dress Barn, The Paper Store and BJ’s Wholesale Club left Westborough for Northborough. They were supposed to have come to Bay State Commons.
“That hurt this business,” said Waterman, of Waterman Design.
But now, Schradieck says, competition has proven to be good for everyone. It forces stores to keep their prices competitive and offers variety to shoppers. “For years, all we had were two Stop & Shops” in Westborough, she noted.
“Each one has its own niche,” she said of Roche Bros. and Wegmans. Roche Bros. is not a huge superstore like Wegmans, but it has a nice feel, with fresh, quality items and great architecture, she said.
Schradieck feels that Bay State Commons got a check in the plus column, however, when it switched the property’s leasing agent to Colliers International. Listing agent Todd Alexander is a local agent who has roots in the community, she said.
(Alexander did not return calls or emails for this story, nor did Bay State’s listed owner, Phillips International Holding Corp. of New York City.)
Opportunity abounds
Bay State Commons has faced a unique set of circumstances. But its challenges are certainly not causing MetroWest developers to shy away from similar projects.
Southborough developer Howard Grossman of Grossman Development Group says the time for mixed-use developments is here.
His group is converting the former Spag’s property on Rte. 9 in Shrewsbury into a retail, restaurant and housing site with 100,000 square feet, anchored by Whole Foods. Work begins this spring.
Bay State Commons is similar to his project with an anchor supermarket and restaurants creating a good draw to the center, he said. But Lakeway Commons — as it’s called, will be more transit-focused — as it’s located on a major road. The Worcester Regional Transit Authoritywill have a bus stop at the site, providing “connectivity” with UMass Memorial Medical Center workers.
For Grossman, any mixed-use project with retail and residential components, creating a “village-type, urban, yet walkable feel, without Boston prices,” will be in demand as long as there’s a need. He’s actively looking at Worcester County sites for future mixed-use projects.
The need, said Senie, will be there, due to more corporations locating in MetroWest. “All that open commercial space isn’t there anymore,” he said. “[Employees] need housing. They need places to eat and shop.”
Forward march
Despite its bumps in the road, a common factor between Bay State Commons and any mixed-use development has to be successful town collaboration. Waterman said Westborough had a united team behind the project all along.
“They didn’t want another industrial user,” he said. “They wanted to create new zoning and were great working with us.”
Bay State Commons appears to be making its mark on the Westborough downtown, creating a niche as a focus for foodies, as well, say Malloy and Schradieck, with Sachi Japanese Steakhouse and Tavolino joining Panera and Ted’s Montana Grill. “They keep the place busy in the evenings,” Schradieck said.
Waterman added that the Berlin or Northborough developments are tough to compare to Bay State Commons, as they have, or will have, more destination shopping sites with bigger stores and more variety. “They are pulling from a regional audience,” he said. “This is more local.”
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