Once again, Maynard’s Clock Tower Place is ready for prime time.

Barely two years after acquiring the former Digital Equipment Corp. headquarters, a development partnership has almost completely retenanted the once-vacant mill, breathing new life into both the property and the surrounding Metrowest community. Indeed, brokers with CB Richard Ellis/Whittier Partners, exclusive leasing agents for the complex, predict that all 1.1 million square feet of space will be spoken for within a few weeks.

“It’s just incredible,” CB/Whittier principal Christopher P. Tosti said of the activity. “I think we surprised a lot of people, maybe even ourselves.”

Renamed Clock Tower Place by Wellesley Capital Co. and Rosewood Construction after they purchased it in late 1997, the property has attracted a variety of tenants since, ranging from Monster.com to a flute manufacturing company. According to Project Manager Robert W. Macnamara Jr., Clock Tower Place today features more than 70 tenants, some fledgling start-ups and others occupying upwards of 150,000 square feet.

Town Administrator Michael J. Gianotis said last week that the impact is already being felt by local merchants, even though only about half of the estimated 3,000 people eventually expected to occupy the property are actually in the five-building complex today. Gianotis said the town anticipates the project will be 100 percent occupied by the end of the year, well ahead of the schedule initially outlined by Wellesley/Rosewood Maynard Mills LP.

“We can already see it in the foot traffic,” Gianotis said. “It has been a steady progression, and we think that is only going to continue to improve.”

Besides the lunchtime crowd and others heading out into the downtown sector, Gianotis said companies within the complex are also doing business-to-business deals with Maynard stores. A liquor store owner just received a contract to cater events for one Clock Tower tenant, he said, while pizza shops and a lumber yard have also been beneficiaries of that trend. Although it has yet to approach the bustle seen when DEC employed some 4,000 people at the complex, Gianotis said he believes the town will soon approach – or exceed – that level. One bicycle shop, for example, has reported doing better business with the new crop of tenants because they tend to be younger and more active.

“It has already improved, and this spring and summer, I think we are going to see a real influx of folks,” Gianotis said.

Clock Tower does offer ancillary services to its tenants, including a new cafeteria, day care center and fitness club. And while there has been some consternation among Maynard restaurants over the opening of the cafeteria, Tosti said he believes tenants will frequent the downtown on a regular basis. Even in the initial stages of marketing, he said, the location of the abutting business district was embraced by prospective tenants.

“Once we got people to the project … they recognized the town of Maynard was just so convenient,” Tosti said. “The local amenities were a big plus.”

High-Tech Advantage
Macnamara estimates that the developers will spend $30 million to restore the mill, which has been a driving force for the town since the early 1800s. At one point, it was the largest woolen manufacturer in the world, while DEC gave the facility another international presence during its days as a renowned computer company. Most of the work to date has been in restoring both tenant space and common areas, with upgraded elevators, modern lighting and thousands of new windows added throughout the property.

Despite the hefty investment, Macnamara said Clock Tower Place had an advantage over similar mills in that DEC overloaded the complex with technology prior to its demise. More than 80 strands of single-mode fiber optic cable feed into the property, there are satellite communications links already installed and redundant heating and cooling systems provide additional security for tenants. Those capabilities were “a major factor” in attracting technology firms to the complex, Macnamara said.

Ironically, the project team also cites Maynard’s location as one plus. Given that Clock Tower Place is not situated on a primary highway, Gianotis and others initially felt it might have a difficult time competing with properties in established markets such as Framingham or Waltham. But Monster.com migrated from Framingham, while others have moved from such communities as Woburn and Concord. The developers maintain that Maynard’s presence in the middle of what it terms the “Golden Rectangle” positions it perfectly to draw from other business sectors. Route 128 is 11 miles away, Interstate 495 is an eight-mile trip and nearby Route 3 offers direct access to the Lowell/Chelmsford market.

“We are in the middle of everything,” Macnamara said. “We really draw from the best of all worlds.”

Not only are tenants close to other business centers, CB/Whittier broker Robert A. Walles said companies at Clock Tower benefit from a talented labor force, with the communities surrounding Maynard populated by many DEC alumni. One tenant in the park, Epsilon Assoc., was founded by former DEC engineers, for example.

Flexibility has been another selling point, according to Walles, who is heading up the leasing effort with Tosti and Robert D. McGuire. With today’s high-tech firms growing exponentially overnight, expansion options are critical to such companies, and Clock Tower has been able to offer generous allowances in that regard. Monster.com has doubled in size since it arrived in 1998, while McGuire added that more than a dozen firms overall have increased their space since arriving at Clock Tower.

McGuire also cited the one-stop shopping capabilities of Wellesley/Rosewood, which offers companies an array of construction, space planning and fit-eaport hotelout services. The landlords also manage the building through Wellesley Management Co., with Robert Bernardo overseeing that aspect of the operation.

“There’s no uncertainty,” McGuire said. “We can answer any question they have.”

Whatever the reason, Clock Tower place has certainly quelled the many doubts prevalent when the project began. Especially in light of DEC’s demise and a failed senior housing plan which preceded Wellesley/Rosewood, Gianotis said there was skepticism at first, but added that the financial backing and reputation of the project team helped alleviate those fears.

“There was a little bit of a concern that they could pull this off in the period they were talking about,” Gianotis said. “But it’s been pretty successful, and they are well ahead of schedule.”