Congress Group Optimistic About Framingham Office Park
IMAGE/COURTESY
An artist rendering of the Crossroads Corporate Center being proposed in Framingham.
Despite the commercial real estate market lingering in the doldrums along with the economy, the Boston-based Congress Group hopes to break ground a year from now on a $150 million, 450,000-square-foot office building in the Framingham Technology Park.
Of course, a lot of things have to happen between now and then so that the project - billed as Crossroads Corporate Center - can get built, according to Dean Stahouly, president and co-founder of the Boston-based Congress Group. First, it must get approval from the Framingham Planning Board and by the state's Department of Environmental Management.
The project must also attract a tenant or tenants to get financing. Strahouly said the current market for construction loans is extremely tight, but hopes that in 12 months there will be more capital available.
The corporate center as planned will have two separate buildings totaling 450,000 square feet connected by a common area or "link" building, and will also have four levels of tiered parking at the back as the hilly property descends, he said.
Best Laid Plans
While the Crossroads Corporate Center is an ambitious project, now is a good time to get the planning and permitting out of the way, according to Tim O'Brien, an associate with Colliers Meredith & Grew, a commercial real estate firm based in Boston.
"If things get better, if banks and credit get a little more open, and developers can borrow some construction money, then I think things will definitely get better," he said.
The current stats on commercial real estate in the greater MetroWest region aren't pretty. There is approximately 4.6 million square feet of office and R&D space along Interstate 495, according to the first quarter real estate report from Colliers. The vacancy rates in the region range from 22.2 percent in the north section to 25.7 percent in the West and 24.5 percent in the South.
That's higher than in the past and worse than in other parts of the state. Boston, for example, had an 11.5 percent vacancy rate in the quarter. Overall, the suburbs west of Boston (which includes Worcester) were 19.1 percent vacant.
While the vacancy rates are currently high, O'Brien points out there is a void of Class A office space in the MetroWest that the Crossroads project might fill.
The plan drew a lot of interest on the part of prospective tenants last summer when Congress Group first made it known that they were planning such a building, Stahouly said. The interest has slacked off a bit, but they are still having productive talks with two biotechnology firms and one high tech company, all of which are already in the state.
"It's going to be an incredible corporate billboard and it would afford a company the ability to really define itself in an iconic building," he said.
The building will continue the makeover to the Framingham Technology Park that really began with Bose Corp. building what is referred to as "the Mountain," a large multiple-story office building on the largest hill in the complex. Genzyme Corp., the global biotechnology company, has built a complex within the complex at various parcels along New York Avenue, and still has a manufacturing building under construction across from its existing buildings.
The state's Massachusetts Life Sciences Center has awarded Framingham over $5 million of $12 million-plus it has allocated to help the town improve its water and waste water infrastructure to support Genzyme's expansion in the Framingham Technology Park as well as that of any other park tenants.
The Congress Group has had a preliminary meeting with the Framingham Planning Board and Strahouly estimates it will take anywhere from six to nine months to receive the board's approval. It must also complete an Environmental Impact Review for the state and get it approved.
WBJ Web Partners
Most Recent
Most Recent
0 Comments