Photo courtesy of JLL / File
A company that says it’s “reinventing how advanced metals are developed and manufactured” has signed for 36,055 square feet in a Woburn industrial park.
Foundation Alloy is relocating from MIT’s The Engine “tough tech” incubator in Cambridge, near Kendall Square. Its new headquarters will be at 45 Industrial Parkway, a flex industrial building owned by a joint venture of Camber Development and Wheelock Street Capital.
The Woburn relocation will give it space for expanded R&D and manufacturing work, and follows the company’s receipt of a new round of funding.
“Our new headquarters enables us to scale from pilot production today to tons per week by 2027 – a 100x increase in capacity built on a modular manufacturing platform that lets us deploy and expand 10x faster than traditional metals manufacturing. Within six months of starting construction we’ll be shipping parts to customers on at least three continents from this facility,” Foundation Alloy CEO Jake Guglin said in a statement.
Cushman & Wakefield’s Kevin McNamara, Ross Gaudet and Michael O’Leary represented Foundation Alloy in the transaction, while JLL’s Chelsea Andre, Rachel Marks and Chris Decembrele represented Camber Development and Wheelock Street Capital.
Modernized and new-build flex industrial space – a facility that has the power and water hookups to support a combination of manufacturing, R&D, storage and office space – is now fetching the highest prices per square foot of any Greater Boston industrial asset class, according to research by brokerage Avison Young: an average of $21 versus $16 for all industrial assets. A wave of local robotics, aeronautics, climate tech, defense, energy, material-science and other “tough tech” companies are driving demand as successful advancements land them additional funding.
“As companies transition from research and development into commercial-scale manufacturing, finding facilities with the right combination of power, infrastructure and flexibility becomes one of the biggest challenges to growth. 45 Industrial Parkway presented a rare opportunity to pair an exceptional building with an ownership group willing to invest alongside an innovative company,” McNamara said in a statement.
