BOSTON — W. P. Carey has acquired a 235,943-square-foot office and R&D facility near Boston for $56 million. The facility is located at 800 Federal St. in Andover, just north of Boston.
The space serves as the corporate headquarters for Schneider Electric USA. The energy management and efficiency technologies specialist signed a 15-year lease for the space in December 2012. It relocated and consolidated from its previous corporate headquarters in Illinois.
“The asset is positioned in the Route 495 North East office submarket, which has witnessed tightening vacancy and positive net absorption in 10 of the past 12 quarters,” says Jason Fox, W.P. Carey’s managing director and co-head of global investments.
“We have also seen significant momentum just south in the Burlington/Waltham areas, as market fundamentals continue to tighten north of Boston.”
The facility is also one of Schneider Electric’s five major R&D facilities. It is the company’s only U.S.-based facility. The United States is the company’s largest market, accounting for $6 billion of its $31 billion in annual revenue in 2013.
The Class A building is situated within a six-building, 900,000-square-foot business park. The previous owner, a joint venture between Leggat McCall Properties and Long Wharf Real Estate Partners, actually incorporated some of Schneider Electric’s own energy-efficient products and solutions into the facility’s design. These integrations reduced energy use and operational costs by about 30 percent.
“[We] continue to explore innovative new concepts incorporating renewable energy sources,” says Bill Gause, Leggat McCall’s executive vice president. “We are particularly pleased to complete this transaction with W. P. Carey given its long-term investing outlook and appreciation of energy efficiency.”
“This investment represented an opportunity to acquire a newly renovated Class A, LEED-certified facility that is critical to Schneider Electric’s U.S. operations,” Fox continues. “Working with an established local developer, W. P. Carey secured a solid income-generating asset for our own real estate portfolio. Because our strategy is to generate income and cash flow over the longer term, we are an attractive source of liquidity for owners, developers and investors with shorter-term investment horizons and the desire to recycle their capital.”
W. P. Carey is a global net-lease REIT headquartered in New York’s Rockefeller Center. The REIT provides long-term sale-leaseback and build-to-suit financing solutions for companies worldwide.
— Nellie Day