National Grid is planning to sell its headquarters at 25 Research Drive in Westborough.
Lights out.
One month after National Grid detailed its move to Reservoir Woods in Waltham, the national electric company is selling its 280,000-square-foot campus in Westborough.
“We’re moving to consolidate our New England offices in Waltham, which will be our corporate headquarters, so we don’t need the Westborough building anymore,” said Jackie Barry, a spokeswoman for National Grid.
While the 6-story, glass-and-concrete building has not yet been listed for sale, Jones Lang LaSalle, the global real estate company, is expected to handle the deal, according to Barry.
But at 39 years old, the facility would compete against younger space and more than 100,000 square feet of offices in the pipeline.
“It’s a great location and the building has been well-maintained, but it looks and feels its age,” said a broker familiar with the building, who requested anonymity. “The site is so huge and near the intersection of several highways, it could be redeveloped for retail or a hotel. It could still be an office campus, but the vacancy rate out there is still in the double digits.”
William Depietri, president of Capital Group Properties, a Southborough-based commercial and residential development company that owns 11 office and retail properties in MetroWest, said he expects the National Grid property would sell for $35 million, or $125 per square foot, slightly above its assessed value of $33 million.
“I think whoever buys it would ‘flip’ it (sell it quickly for a profit) and build several other office buildings on the site,” said Depietri, who has Southborough Place, a 50,000-square-foot office park, under construction. “The National Grid property has more than 500,000 square feet of undeveloped land on the parcel, so there’s potential for a much larger office park there.”
According to Jones Lang LaSalle, the office vacancy rate for Interstate 495/Massachusetts Turnpike was 14.4 percent at the close of 2007, up slightly from 14.1 percent as of December 2006. Still, Depietri said he expects there will be demand for new space.
Southborough-based Bartolini Builders has plans for an office campus at 276-280 Turnpike Road on Route 9 in Southborough. Company President John Bartolini Jr. declined to comment. But under a proposal submitted to the Southborough Conservation Commission, the project would include a trio of 3-story office buildings totaling 79,200 square feet.
In addition, EMC Corp., the Hopkinton-based data-storage company, owns a 200,000-square-foot office building at 900 West Park Drive near the intersection of Route 9 and I-495 in Westborough. But the space is empty and it’s unclear whether the company is saving the space for expansion or intends to lease it.
“We regularly evaluate and manage our portfolio and properties to best accommodate our business space and have no plans for it right now,” said Patrick Cooley, an EMC spokesman.
Consolidation Planned
In December, National Grid said it will consolidate its New England offices into a single facility at the Reservoir Woods East office park in Waltham. The building, expected to open next year, will be home to 1,700 employees.
The energy giant will occupy 270,000 of the 300,000 square feet at the new facility. The 3-story, mostly glass-exterior building will feature bright, open and functional work areas designed to foster a collaborative work environment, the developer said.
Boston-based Davis Marcus Partners and Prudential Real Estate Advisors bought the 120-acre Reservoir Woods campus from Polaroid Corp., Verizon and New England Baptist Hospital. The complex is located near I-95 and Route 2.
The building will be designed to achieve the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold certification, making it among the region’s most energy-efficient facilities. The U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED rating system promotes sustainability by recognizing performance in five areas of health: site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor environmental quality.
“National Grid was looking for an environmentally sensitive new class of building that offered flexibility, energy efficiency and a full amenity package to attract and retain valued employees in an accessible, attractive location,” said Paul R. Marcus, president, Davis Marcus Partners.
National Grid will retain its nearby office space at 55 Bearfoot Road in Northborough, which will house its 24/7 operations, including call centers and dispatch operations.
“We have completed several mergers and have grown significantly since National Grid came to the [United States] in 2000,” said Thomas King, National Grid’s executive director of electricity distribution and generation. “It was time to look at our existing New England corporate facilities and determine if they still meet our needs today, and whether they could support our continued growth.”
National Grid delivers electricity to 3.4 million customers in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York and Rhode Island, and manages the electricity network on New York’s Long Island under an agreement with the Long Island Power Authority.
“National Grid’s owners want a completely new culture and wanted to make a statement by moving into a signature space,” said the broker who declined to be identified. “It created a buzz in the market because it happened so quickly.”
