News
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
August 5, 2010
| What, you thought Atlantic Management's Joe Zink would stop after he and his partners guided the $165M sale of the 96-acre Lexington Technology Park to pharma heavy-hitter Shire? There's no rest for a father of four: He's still buying commercial properties, both core and value-add assets, and managing the portfolio. |
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| We snapped Joe Tuesday (but we still got "just the facts") at one of the older buildings in Lexington Technology Park, former home of Raytheon. In late ?02, Joe and Steve Rice of Mohawk Partners formed Patriot Partners with Jerry O'Connor of O'Connor Capital Partners to acquire the site and its three buildings for $52M. The existing buildings were renovated, attracting Shire to lease space. Since then, Shire built a manufacturing plant and has another building under construction, due for completion in 14 months. From the start, Joe and Steve figured LTP would appeal to life-science and biotech companies. It's in upscale Lexington, near Rt. 2, Rt.128, and 20 minutes from Cambridge/Boston. Early on, they also envisioned the exit strategy they executed on June 30. ?We thought it would take four to five years,? Joe told us. ?It took eight.? |
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| Joe stopped to chat at 300 Patriot Way, which was rehabbed in ?07. He says so far this year, Atlantic Management has purchased eight buildings totalling 750k SF. They range from value-added to stabilized properties in suburbs including Woburn, Billerica, Brockton, and Avon. They're not sexy locations like Lexington, but Joe says ?Sometimes sexy doesn?t make money.? In Billerica, he bought 3 and 8 Federal St., which were in foreclosure for $38/SF. They're 60% vacant but Joe is confident they'll lease up with some quality TI since they're on a Rt. 3 interchange. ?If you buy at an attractive basis, you can be more competitive in attracting tenants,? he adds. For $160/SF, he bought a medical office building in Brockton leased long term to Caritas Hospital. |
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| Trolling for more properties, Joe still likes life science and biotech, growing industries in which Massachusetts? intellectual capital makes it a player. For Class A life science space along central Rt. 128, vacancies are probably in single digits, he told us. Medical and healthcare are also expanding in the Boston area, but, he says, it's hard to figure out how the new healthcare bill will affect the industry. ?The No. 1 concern is jobs, jobs, jobs.? As for overall economic growth, he says, ?it's hard to tell where we are; businesses are very cautious and the environment unstable.? His solution: buy existing property or pursue build-to-suit opportunities. |
