With Vacancies Falling, Franklin Hopes To Net Bigger Businesses
Courtesy photo
The triangular parcel shown in the center of the photo is the 22-acre piece of land the Town of Franklin is marketing for development. Town Administrator Jeffrey Nutting said the land, at the apex of I-495 and Route 140, is ideal for a corporate headquarters or hotel.
The fact that more companies and investors are expanding and purchasing property at Franklin industrial parks has town leaders hoping that a rough time for commercial and industrial real estate is ending.
Town Administrator Jeffrey Nutting said the number of “for lease” signs has been coming down gradually as tenants have been scooping up space in recent months.
“I think they've just started slowly and quietly started to fill back up without a lot of fanfare,” he said.
More Manufacturers Wanted
It’s certainly noteworthy that Franklin’s commercial and industrial vacancy rate is lower than the area average. Boston commercial real estate firm Richards Barry Joyce & Partners (RBJ), which recently released the latest figures for the Greater Boston region in its Fall 2013 market report, said Franklin’s warehouse vacancy rate was 7.1 percent, better than the 12.8 percent rate for the wider I-495 warehouse submarket.
In October, Owens & Minor, a leading medical supply distributor, added 87,000 square feet to its lease at 20 Freedom Way, inside Franklin Industrial Park. And in September, two fully-leased properties on Constitution Boulevard and Grove Street sold for a combined $11 million.
As the economy continues to recover, Nutting said he’d be hard-pressed to complain about the fact that most activity has come from warehousing and distribution operations, which typically generate lower employee counts and tax revenue than manufacturing and corporate office tenants do.
But Nutting admits he’d like to see more activity in Franklin in the manufacturing sector, either through new business or existing distributors expanding operations to include manufacturing, the latter of which he said happens from time to time. This is because the industry tends to greater more jobs and tax revenue than distributors.
“We're very happy with the warehouse tenants, but if (businesses) want to convert to manufacturing, we'll bend over backwards for them,” Nutting said.
In order to boost the odds of attracting a wider variety of business, the town has implemented a streamlined permitting process, amended its zoning ordinance to make it easier for biotechnology companies to locate in Franklin, and implemented by-right permitting for medical marijuana dispensaries throughout its three industrial zones, meaning special permits are not required. The town also offers a single tax rate and tax increment financing – or TIF - incentives.
Last Buildable Parcel Up For Grabs
Meanwhile, Franklin is doing a bit of real estate marketing. The town owns what is virtually the last piece of vacant, commercially-viable land: 22 buildable acres located at the apex of I-495 and Route 140. Nutting said it’s perfect for a corporate headquarters, or even a hotel.
“We had it sold about six years ago. The economy killed that deal and now we're just waiting for it to come back.”
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