Monster Worldwide has leased 175,000 square feet of space in Biogen Idec’s Weston headquarters, absorbing offices the pharmaceutical company is vacating to move operations to Kendall Square in Cambridge.
Monster, parent company of the eponymous Internet job search resource, is currently located in Maynard and will relocate to Weston in the first quarter of 2014.
Although its world headquarters are in New York City, Monster has a significant footprint in the town of Maynard. The company leases more than 300,000 square feet of office space in the Maynard Mill complex, now called Clock Tower Place. Much of that space, however, is either vacant or underutilized, according to industry sources familiar with the lease transaction.
"Beyond that, they’re moving for the same reason a lot of other firms are moving, because they’re having trouble hiring people to go to Maynard, and they wanted be closer to [Boston] and amenities," said one insider with direct knowledge of the transaction. The firm surveyed various office spaces in Boston in the last few years "but never pulled the trigger. This proved to be the best compromise of being close to Boston without going all the way in. Plus they’re moving into a much better building … two or three years old and LEED Platinum with a fitness center."
The Monster deal is good news for the Route 128 West commercial real estate submarket, where rental rates are seen to be rising.
"Not having that amount of space come onto the market really buoys the market," said Mark Roth, an executive director for Cushman & Wakefield who focuses on the Route 128 West submarket but was not connected to the Monster deal.
Biogen Idec is in the process of relocating many of its operations into about 500,000 square feet of space in Cambridge’s Kendall Square. The firm’s original plan was to unite the entire company in Cambridge. But with recent employee growth the new digs will be at capacity, so Biogen will continue to occupy the remaining 175,000 square feet of the 350,000-square-foot Weston property, according to company officials.
Biogen has 11 years left on its Weston lease and does not plan to terminate early, said Ed Dondero, director of real estate and planning for the firm. The company has not decided where the Weston employees will land after the 11 years, he said.
Monster was represented by NAI Hunneman in the transaction, while Cassidy Turley worked with Biogen Idec. Monster did not return calls by press time.
Along with the Weston deal, Boston Properties has had luck recently leasing up its 980,000-square-foot suburban office complex in Waltham known as Bay Colony. With high-tech firm Amadeus relocating to 56,000 square feet from elsewhere in Waltham, the property is now 28 percent vacant, according to Boston Properties officials that spoke on a conference call earlier today.
Boston Properties bought the sprawling office property for $185 million in 2010, just three years after the complex sold for $366 million. The property was reportedly between 55 and 60 percent vacant when Boston Properties purchased it. Calls to Boston Properties were not returned.
The combination of the good news for Weston and Waltham has pushed rents up as well. Class A rents have likely risen about 10 percent in the Route 128 West market, from about $31 a square-foot on average to $34, Roth said.
