An affiliate of Boston developers Sam Park & Co. purchased the former Polaroid campus in Waltham for $40 million today, according to a filing with the Middlesex County Registry of Deeds.
The seller was an affiliate of the German bank Helaba and PB Capital, which seized the 119-acre site in October after it bid $42.5 million for the site at foreclosure auction. Helaba was represented by Boston law firm Riemer & Braunstein.
"We believe real estate values have reached bottom," said Sam Park, president of Park & Co. He said his firm would like to start work immediately on a first phase of speculative, as-of-right office and retail development, while ironing out long-term plans for a full site build-out with the city and the site’s abutters.
"We’re one of the few companies out there willing to do a spec building right now," Park added. "We believe we’ll be hitting the market at an ideal time. We believe in the Waltham real estate market. There’s no better place for a long-term land hold than in Waltham.
Park said a full mixed-use build-out would likely be one-third less dense than what its former developers had proposed, and would probably require improvements to provide direct access from Route 128.
He said putting "some portion" of the 410,000 square feet of existing commercial space on the site into use would help finance necessary utility work, and help carry land costs.
The $40 million purchase was an all-equity deal done in partnership with a private equity firm, he said.
A joint venture of Polaroid and New York-based developers The Related Cos. had planned a $500 million mixed-use redevelopment for the Waltham site. The joint venture had outstanding mortgage debts of $120 million, but was capitalized with just $1.5 million in cash from the joint venture partners.
At an Urban Land Institute forum last November, Related executive Ken Himmel said Related had thrown the brakes on most of its development projects. The company wrote off projects where it couldn’t preserve its land position, and secured five-year extensions on projects where it could, he said.
Park & Co. also controlled land across Route 128 from the Polaroid site. The firm had planned a 570,000-square-foot office and retail complex for that land. Those plans were thrown into doubt by the Polaroid foreclosure, as traffic improvements connected to the Polaroid redevelopment were believed to be critical to the success of Park’s project.
Park told Banker & Tradesman the Polaroid side of the highway would be built before the other side.
