Walker Development moving HQ from Marlborough to Southborough, in expansion effort
Photo | Eric Casey
Workers hang a Walker Development sign on the roof of the company's new headquarters in Southborough on June 27.
Walker Development and Construction Management, a Marlborough-based construction and project management firm, is preparing to move into its new headquarters on Route 9 in Southborough as part of the 10-year-old firm’s expansion efforts.
The company purchased 337 Turnpike Road in Southborough for $5.1 million in a deal finalized in December, according to Worcester District Registry of Deeds records. The firm is building out an office space for its use on the building’s second floor and installed a new sign on the building’s facade on June 27.
The company was founded in 2014 by co-principals Jeff Walker, a former vice president of Waltham-based construction firm Vantage Builders who serves as CEO of the company, and Nick Poirier, a former project manager at Vantage who serves as Walker’s president. Spurred on by conversations the two had regarding their visions on how to run a company, Walker and Poirer started their own firm.
Prominent projects that Walker Development has been involved in since include an extensive renovation of the Firefly’s BBQ restaurant in Marlborough, the renovation of former EMC office space in Hopkinton into 30,000 square feet of modern office and laboratory space for clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company Spring Bank Pharmaceuticals, and construction of new office space for the nonprofit Greater Worcester Community Foundation in the One Mercantile Street building in Worcester.
“We really built the company with the idea of supporting commercial brokers and landlords, mainly for renovations,” Walker said. “So we have a lot of great relationships with the people making the deals, and that helps us.”
Although the company has been involved in projects from New Hampshire to Rhode Island, Walker estimates 80% of its business occurs inside the I-495 belt in Massachusetts.
The region’s growth has led to growth at Walker Development; the company’s headcount has expanded to 47 since 2014. The move to a company-owned property allows the firm to solidify its headcount under one roof with room for future expansion, said Walker.
“We’re interested in investing in commercial real estate and development, so that piece of it helped,” he said. “But it did really solidify a space for us. Now we’ll all be under one roof, with the ability to expand.”
Walker Development typically deals with projects with price tags under $10 million. Clients are beginning to ask for help with bigger projects, and the company is eyeing opportunities to get involved in projects from the ground up, instead of focusing on renovations. Getting into more multi-family projects offers another avenue for expansion, said Walker.
For now, much of the focus is on the build out of the new Southborough headquarters, which is expected to be completed this year. Despite the unique opportunity to be involved in all aspects of the space’s design and construction, Walker said he wouldn’t describe it as fun.
“It reminds you of the challenges our clients deal with,” he said. “It’s definitely much easier if you’re just constructing the space for someone else, [compared to] when you’re making the decisions and making the decisions of where people are going and how the space should look.”
Eric Casey is a staff writer at Worcester Business Journal, who primarily covers the manufacturing and real estate industries.
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