🔒GFI buys 22-acre site for large planned industrial building near Fitchburg airport

Boston-based development firm GFI Partners has purchased a 22.2-acre plot of land split between Fitchburg and Lunenburg for $1.38 million, part of a four-year effort to construct an industrial building at the site.

GFI Partners purchased the site from the Fitchburg Redevelopment Authority on July 22, according to Worcester North District Registry of Deeds records. 

The parcel has an address of 0 Airport Road and is adjacent to the North Nashua River, with the proposed building site being split by the Fitchburg-Lunenburg municipal border. The site sits about a mile from Route 2 and is near the intersection between Route 2 and I-190. 

GFI has been working since at least 2022 to build an industrial warehouse building at the site. The proposed 183,456-square-foot industrial building is a downsized version of an earlier 367,000-square-foot approval, after geotechnical work found contaminated soil in the northern half of the parcel, according to video of a May 2025 Fitchburg Planning Board meeting.

The Stubblebine Co. in Lexington is handling leasing for the site, which is being built without a tenant confirmed for the site. A listing for the property says the building will have a 40-foot ceiling and 61 loading docks. Warehousing, distribution, and manufacturing are among possible uses for the subdividable building.

GFI has built similar buildings in Hopedale and in Shrewsbury, among other locations in Central Massachusetts and beyond. The company works in the multifamily housing space; GFI is working to build a 74-unit apartment building in Worcester’s Canal District and is working with Fitchburg State University to build a mixed-use building to replace the university-owned Fitchburg Theater Block.

Joel Aho of Aho Properties in Marlborough represented GFI in the transaction. 

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article said Aho Properties represented the Fitchburg Redevelopment Authority. In fact, the firm represented GFI.  

Eric Casey is the managing editor at Worcester Business Journal, who primarily covers the real estate and banking & finance industries.