A startup accelerator and makerspace called The Revolution Factory will open in March at the 1.1-million-square-foot Mill & Main campus in downtown Maynard.
Founders Ja-Nae Duane and Steve Fisher, a husband-and-wife team who are authors and business consultants, leased 9,088 square feet in the converted mill complex where Digital Equipment Corp. got its start in 1957.
In December, The Revolution Factory was awarded a $25,000 grant from MassDevelopment to build out the makerspace at Mill & Main to support design, prototyping and small-scale manufacturing. The facility also will host accelerator and incubator programs, co-working space and community events, according to a press release.
Mill & Main is owned by a joint venture between Saracen Properties and Artemis Real Estate Partners, which have completed 350,000 square feet of leasing since mid-2015.
Boston-based Margulies Perruzzi Architects designed the master plan repositioning the 40-acre property for the new ownership team with new gardens and a boardwalk, redesigned pedestrian and vehicular patterns, a bike path and outdoor seating.
Amenities include Amory Café, a new fitness center, Battle Road Brewing restaurant and day care facility.
“We’re trying to knit the town and the mill together,” Marc Margulies, principal at Margulies Perruzzi, told Banker & Tradesman last year. “When Digital was there, there were literally fences around it. There was the idea that it was a separate campus and enclave. If this proves successful, it could be a formula for small towns all across America.”
CBRE/NE’s Sam Crossan, Alison Powers, Bob McGuire and Rob Walles represented both the tenant and the landlord in the transaction.
Mill & Main, previously known as Clock Tower Place, lost 300,000 square feet of occupancy in 2014 when Monster Worldwide relocated its offices to Weston.
In 2015, Stratus Technologies leased 102,321 square feet at Mill & Main in a relocation from 116 Powder Mill Road in Maynard.
