EXCLUSIVE: TJX Cos. Buys Office Building Near HQ For $120M

TJX Cos. is expanding its MetroWest office holdings. 

The Framingham-based off-price retailer bought a 450K SF office building for $120M at 550 Cochituate Road near the east campus of its global headquarters. The office complex had been owned by Westwood-based healthcare software company Meditech, according to a deed filed Sept. 19 in Middlesex County. 

Meditech paid $58.3M for the office building 24 years ago. Current tenants apart from Meditech include Definitive Healthcare and coworking provider the Suites at 550.

“There doesn’t seem to be any indication TJX is decamping for downtown like other suburban companies,” Newmark Knight Frank Research Director Liz Berthelette said. “It solidifies their desire to be in Framingham, Marlborough and MetroWest.”

TJX plans to accommodate future growth at the building, which is across an Interstate 90 connector road from the company’s 800K SF east campus at 770 Cochituate Road. TJX’s 700K SF west campus is in Marlborough. 

“With over 4,400 stores and 270,000 Associates around the world today, TJX is planning office space to support our continued global growth and accommodate a growing workforce in our Massachusetts corporate headquarters,” TJX Cos. said in a statement to Bisnow. “We believe that this building, along with our other East campus buildings in Framingham and our West campus buildings in Marlborough, should help support our business needs for many years to come.”

The company employs nearly 17,000 in Massachusetts across corporate offices, retail stores and distribution centers. Meditech did not respond to Bisnow’s request for comment in time for publication. 

TJX, the parent company of T.J. Maxx, Marshalls and HomeGoods, remains a strong performer in the troubled retail industry. 

While competitors like J.C. Penney Co. and Kohl’s have closed stores due to declining sales, TJX has expanded its e-commerce reach while also leaning on more brick-and-mortar stores as a key part of future growth. 

Rather than buying clothing from other department stores, the TJX business model includes buying goods directly from manufacturers at a discount, which then gets passed onto customers. The bargains, as well as a growing global retail footprint, have given the company an “Amazon-proof” reputation among retail analysts. 

Wall Street seems to agree: TJX’s stock price has increased 83% in the last five years. 

“They were a bright spot in the last downturn with off-priced retail and have bucked the trend by adding more brick-and-mortar,” Berthelette said. “They’ve done really well, and that trickles down into real estate.”