Somerville’s Assembly Row has landed its first tech startup.
Beverly-based SmartBear Software will move its corporate headquarters and 100 employees to the 66-acre mixed-use complex on the Mystic River in early 2015, after leasing 33,000 square feet in a 132,000-square-foot office and retail building developed by Federal Realty Investment Trust.
SmartBear is the second office tenant to commit to space at Assembly Row. Partners HealthCare will consolidate Boston-area offices in 700,000 square feet of build-to-suit space beginning in 2016.
Headquartered at 100 Cummings Center in Beverly, SmartBear makes tools for app developers. It was formed in 2010 by the merger of SmartBear, AutomatedQA and Pragmatic Software. The company will occupy the top floor of the four-story 450 Artisan Way, which includes 32,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space and 66,000 square feet of office space that is still available.
The relocation will be the latest in a series of moves by suburban tech tenants to urban neighborhoods. In marketing materials, office broker Colliers International describes Assembly Row as "more accessible than Cambridge and more transit-friendly than the Seaport."
Anchored by a 300,000-square-foot outlet-themed shopping center with apartments on the upper floors, the first phase of Assembly Row opened in May. More than 95 percent of the retail is leased, with 43 of the 59 retail tenants now open, including the Legoland Discovery center and a 12-screen AMC Theater.
The estimated $1.5-billion project has permits to build a total of 500,000 square feet of retail, 1.75 million square feet of office space, 2,100 residential units and a hotel. A new MBTA Orange Line station opened in September at the edge of the property.
Federal Realty expects to begin the next phase of Assembly Row in 2015 "barring a significant hiccup," CEO Donald Wood said during a conference call Friday to discuss the company’s third-quarter results. The Rockville, Md.-based real estate investment trust had funds from operations of $84.5 million, compared with $76.4 million during the same period in 2013.
Assembly Row’s first phase also included 445 AvalonBay Communities apartments on the upper floors of the retail buildings. As of Oct. 17, 49 percent of the apartments were leased with an average rent of $2,410, according to AvalonBay Communities’ third-quarter financial report.
