Southborough voters overwhelmingly approved a zoning change at a town meeting on Monday night, opening the door for a potential Costco Wholesale location on the Town’s border with Westborough just off of Route 9.An article modifying the Town’s zoning bylaws to allow for retail uses in Southborough’s IP Industrial Park District easily reached the two-thirds majority it needed to be approved, passing 771-12, according to video of the meeting. The change will allow for Framingham-based Atlantic Management to pursue opening a Costco location at 21 Coslin Drive. In a Sep. 19 letter to Southborough residents, the Town’s Select Board urged voters to support the zoning change, saying it would allow Atlantic Management to pursue plans to construct the Costco. The letter said that in recent years its commercial tax base has been declining or growing more slowly than the residential tax base, arguing the Costco would be a significant step in reversing this trend.The proposed location for the Costco location (outlined in orange) is just off of Route 9 on Southborough's border with Westborough. The line running through the parcel is the municipal border. IMAGE COURTESY OF MASSACHUSETTS BUREAU OF GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION“We understand that there is competition for this Costco location from other neighboring towns, particularly including Westborough,” the letter reads. “Approval of Article One on Oct. 27 is important for keeping Southborough in the driver’s seat for this project. As with most real estate projects, time is of the essence for us to bring this project to Southborough.”The 166,000-square-foot building at 21 Coslin Drive was once a Dell EMC facility. Dell EMC sold the building in February to Atlantic Management after the site had gone unused by the tech giant for years, part of a larger retreat from many of its Central Massachusetts locations after the two firms merged in 2016.The zoning change allows for a larger format, single tenant of over 125,000 square feet, as well as the use of abutting lots for supporting or complementary uses, including retail or food service, according to a Town presentation given during Monday’s meeting. The proposed location will still require a special permit from the Town in order to move forward. If all goes to plan, the Town expects the Costco location to open in the summer of 2027. The parcel is located partially within Westborough, but the Sep. 19 letter states the Costco will be built in the Southborough portion of the lot, with the Westborough portion being used for parking.21 Coslin Drive in Southborough IMAGE COURTESY OF GOOGLE MAPSLeominster Mayor Dean Mazzarella told WBJ in June Costco is considering a location in that city as well, although formal hearings regarding those plans have yet to move forward. The company currently operates locations in Avon, Danvers, Dedham, Everett, Sharon, Waltham, and West Springfield, but none in Central Massachusetts.Costco has a policy of not commenting on new locations until three months before they are set to open, according to its website.Atlantic Management manages over 6 million square feet of real estate and has been involved in similar redevelopment projects of former office space in the past, including the redevelopment of the 109-acre former Hewlett Packard campus in Marlborough, according to its website. Eric Casey is the managing editor at Worcester Business Journal, who primarily covers the manufacturing and real estate industries.
