U-Haul is planning an overhaul of a 93,000-square-foot Framingham office building formerly home to biotech firm Genzyme, with plans to convert the structure into a 600-unit self-storage facility.
According to property records, UHaul purchased the building on the Framingham and Southborough town line last April for $4.4 million.
The five-story glass-top building at 15 Pleasant Street Connector has been vacant since Genzyme left in 2012. It was acquired by a New Jersey developer Normandy Real Estate Partners for $5.5 million in 2013, but that firm’s lofty plans to expand the building to 150,000 square feet never took hold as tenants were hard to come by.
Framingham officials signed off on the project earlier this year.
“Commercial properties have been stagnating,” said Scott Chase, president of U-Haul’s Eastern Massachusetts division, in a press release. “We don’t want to see this building remain vacant and become an eyesore in this community.”
Once the project is complete, it will include more than 600 climate-controlled self-storage units along with towing equipment, 24/7 remote access and a reuse center for gently used household furnishings, U-Haul said in a press release.
At least 10 employees will be hired for the facility.
The facility is at least the third U-Haul redevelopment project in Central Massachusetts since 2015. The company is currently renovating the former Melville Shoe Corp. factory in Worcester and in 2016 renovated an industrial property in Northnorough after acquiring it for about $2.5 million the year prior.
