Photo courtesy of Google Maps
A Quincy office building that included the Patriot Ledger newspaper’s headquarters for 30 years is headed to auction next week.
The online real estate listings site Ten-X lists a $2.5 million starting bid for the 7-story, 118,909-square-foot office building at 400 Crown Colony Drive.
The property is currently 43-percent occupied. The listing suggests that potential bidders may consider a life science conversion.
“400 Crown Colony Drive is strategically positioned to benefit from the skilled labor force from surrounding universities and attract businesses nationwide in the life science sector,” it states.
UBS Realty Investors acquired the property in 2005 for $18 million, according to Norfolk County Registry of Deeds records. The property currently has an assessed value of $21.3 million, according to Quincy assessors data.
The suburban daily moved from a Quincy Center to the newly-developed office building in the late 1980s, next to its printing plant which later was redeveloped as a BJ’s Wholesale Club. The Ledger newsroom relocated in 2018 to 2 Adams Place in Quincy.
Crown Colony Park was developed by The Flatley Co. of Braintree, and includes office buildings, a condominium development and the Quincy Marriott Hotel.
Property tours of 400 Crown Colony Drive are available by appointment through Samantha Hallowell of brokerage Newmark.
Office vacancies in the 12.9-million-square-foot Route 128 south suburban market were 14.3 percent at the end of the first quarter, according to Newmark data. Median asking rents for class B office space were $25.83 per square foot.
