Bulfinch Cos. Makes $139M Cambridge Discovery Park Acquisition
Developer interest continues to heat up in Alewife.
A Bulfinch Cos. affiliate acquired a 193K SF Cambridge Discovery Park office building, fully leased to Forrester Research, earlier this month for $138.5M, according to CMBS tracking firm Trepp. Forrester, a marketing research company, uses the building as its world headquarters. Bulfinch's acquisition of 60 Acorn Park Drive also includes a 650-space parking garage.
Bulfinch first developed the six-story building in 2011 before selling it in 2014. Its most recent owner was a CBRE Global Investors affiliate, according to Trepp.
With this purchase, Bulfinch now owns both parking garages and all three office, lab and research and development buildings at CDP.
“Cambridge remains supply constrained for both office and life science users. The strategic location within Cambridge, and specifically within CDP, made this asset an excellent investment and addition to our portfolio,” Bulfinch CEO Eric Schlager said in a statement. “We are excited to return our entrepreneurial spirit and commitment once again to this asset, and we look forward to continuing our relationship with Forrester.”
Bulfinch is also underway with construction on Building 400-500, a 283K SF office, lab, and research and development facility at CDP. That project is slated to deliver during Q1 2020.
The 27-acre office and lab campus has emerged as one of the region’s leading relief valves for the tight Kendall Square lab and office market, given its direct access to the Red Line at the nearby Alewife MBTA station.
Kendall Square office vacancies were at 0.4% in Q2 and rent averaged nearly $97/SF. Vacancies were at 11.6% in Alewife, and office rents were almost $57/SF in the same quarter, according to Perry data. Lab vacancies are nonexistent in Kendall Square, while Alewife had a 23.7% vacancy rate at the end of Q2.
