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Merrimack doesn't really get enough development to deserve its own thread, but I'm making one anyways...
Merrimack building draws $12.5m
By JIM KOZUBEK
Union Leader Correspondent
Saturday, Oct. 14, 2006
Merrimack ? Cushman and Wakefield, a real estate firm with several offices in New England, yesterday announced the completion of two major transactions in Merrimack.
The firm leased an empty building at 11 Continental Blvd. and sold another at 40 Continental Blvd. for $12.5 million.
"These transactions bring growing corporations offering attractive high-paying jobs to Merrimack and they fill a significant void in the local office market," said Thomas P. Farrelly, executive director for the New England offices of Cushman and Wakefield.
11 Continental Blvd
The firm leased an empty building located on 7.5 acres at 11 Continental Blvd. with 72,000 square feet. A lease for 60,000 square feet was initially negotiated with Compuware Corporation, an enterprise software and information technology services company that relocated from Nashua.
"The only thing that has changed is that our lease expired and we needed to move," said Pat Henderson, lead administrator for Compuware. "The space in Nashua was always larger than we needed and the building in Merrimack is built to our specifications and we are happy to be here."
The move caused no terminations or hires, she said.
The remaining space of 12,000 square feet at 11 Continental was subsequently leased to Oztek Corporation, a company founded in Merrimack in 1997 to provide design engineering services and specialty products to the motion control and power electronics industries.
The building was originally a 176,000-square-foot design center used by Texas Instruments to design silicon wafers.
Approximately 100,000 square feet of that building was demolished, subdivided and rebuilt to accommodate a shopping center anchored by Shaws Supermarket. Merrimack Office Properties developed the remaining section 72,000 square feet of the design center.
40 Continental Blvd
The firm sold a 114,000-square-foot, two-story office building on 55 acres to Ashforth Paradigm Capitol Investors, an investment company based in Boston.
The deal was closed for $12.5 million on behalf of Amherst Properties LLC.
Ashforth Paradigm will lease the building, located at Exit 11, to Fidelity Investments, which already has a 560-acre campus at Exit 10.
"Amherst Property is operating in a highly competitive Computer competitive thin margins, and needed half the space," Farrelly said. "We moved their headquarters to Manchester and simultaneously negotiated a deal to sell the building to Ashforth Paradigm."
Ashforth Paradigm does not have any other holdings in New Hampshire, but is looking to the southern part of the state for future investments.
"We believe that southern New Hampshire is going to experience growth in the next five to 10 years," said Ashford executive Steven Allison.
"We are very friendly with the Fidelity folks, and the property was attractive because it will present the ability to build an additional building on property."
Fidelity needed more room to expand and the building provided room for approximately 400 new jobs, he said.
Allison said that his company plans to hold the property for five to 10 years and build an additional building.
The property would then be placed on the market and offered to area companies, most notably Fidelity.
"When the malls go in that is going to be very dramatic," Allison said. "Fidelity has invested a lot of money, this is one of most beautiful buildings in New Hampshire. It is spectacular, absolutely top flight."
The building sits on a 400,000-square-foot office campus, originally designed for the defense contractor Norden Systems.
The grounds feature a helipad, sky-lit atrium area and a 170-seat full-service cafeteria with a glass wall overlooking an outdoor patio.
"Fidelity's occupancy of the entire building combined, with the additional development capacity the site, generated a very high level of interest nationally and created quite a lot of competition among buyers," Farrelly said.
Farrelly confirmed that recent investment in Merrimack has made the location even more attractive to potential investors.
"The nearby Merrimack Premium Outlet Shops proposed by Chelsea Properties was viewed by investors as a major economic building block and looked at as adding market stability in the area.
It was a real driver for investor interest," he said.
I'm still against the mall in our town, and I was surprised that they viewed it so positively in this article. I don't see why large corporations would be swayed by an enormous outlet mall. Fidelity, I know, isn't even open to the public, so why that was a factor, I don't know. Market stability? Who knows...
And for those of you unfamiliar with Continental Boulevard (I'm assuming all), it is a largely industrial road in Merrimack that experienced a lot of vacancies but seems to be making a comeback. I'm pretty excited that new companies are moving in because it has the potential to be an impressive high-tech industry showcase for Merrimack.
Merrimack building draws $12.5m
By JIM KOZUBEK
Union Leader Correspondent
Saturday, Oct. 14, 2006
Merrimack ? Cushman and Wakefield, a real estate firm with several offices in New England, yesterday announced the completion of two major transactions in Merrimack.
The firm leased an empty building at 11 Continental Blvd. and sold another at 40 Continental Blvd. for $12.5 million.
"These transactions bring growing corporations offering attractive high-paying jobs to Merrimack and they fill a significant void in the local office market," said Thomas P. Farrelly, executive director for the New England offices of Cushman and Wakefield.
11 Continental Blvd
The firm leased an empty building located on 7.5 acres at 11 Continental Blvd. with 72,000 square feet. A lease for 60,000 square feet was initially negotiated with Compuware Corporation, an enterprise software and information technology services company that relocated from Nashua.
"The only thing that has changed is that our lease expired and we needed to move," said Pat Henderson, lead administrator for Compuware. "The space in Nashua was always larger than we needed and the building in Merrimack is built to our specifications and we are happy to be here."
The move caused no terminations or hires, she said.
The remaining space of 12,000 square feet at 11 Continental was subsequently leased to Oztek Corporation, a company founded in Merrimack in 1997 to provide design engineering services and specialty products to the motion control and power electronics industries.
The building was originally a 176,000-square-foot design center used by Texas Instruments to design silicon wafers.
Approximately 100,000 square feet of that building was demolished, subdivided and rebuilt to accommodate a shopping center anchored by Shaws Supermarket. Merrimack Office Properties developed the remaining section 72,000 square feet of the design center.
40 Continental Blvd
The firm sold a 114,000-square-foot, two-story office building on 55 acres to Ashforth Paradigm Capitol Investors, an investment company based in Boston.
The deal was closed for $12.5 million on behalf of Amherst Properties LLC.
Ashforth Paradigm will lease the building, located at Exit 11, to Fidelity Investments, which already has a 560-acre campus at Exit 10.
"Amherst Property is operating in a highly competitive Computer competitive thin margins, and needed half the space," Farrelly said. "We moved their headquarters to Manchester and simultaneously negotiated a deal to sell the building to Ashforth Paradigm."
Ashforth Paradigm does not have any other holdings in New Hampshire, but is looking to the southern part of the state for future investments.
"We believe that southern New Hampshire is going to experience growth in the next five to 10 years," said Ashford executive Steven Allison.
"We are very friendly with the Fidelity folks, and the property was attractive because it will present the ability to build an additional building on property."
Fidelity needed more room to expand and the building provided room for approximately 400 new jobs, he said.
Allison said that his company plans to hold the property for five to 10 years and build an additional building.
The property would then be placed on the market and offered to area companies, most notably Fidelity.
"When the malls go in that is going to be very dramatic," Allison said. "Fidelity has invested a lot of money, this is one of most beautiful buildings in New Hampshire. It is spectacular, absolutely top flight."
The building sits on a 400,000-square-foot office campus, originally designed for the defense contractor Norden Systems.
The grounds feature a helipad, sky-lit atrium area and a 170-seat full-service cafeteria with a glass wall overlooking an outdoor patio.
"Fidelity's occupancy of the entire building combined, with the additional development capacity the site, generated a very high level of interest nationally and created quite a lot of competition among buyers," Farrelly said.
Farrelly confirmed that recent investment in Merrimack has made the location even more attractive to potential investors.
"The nearby Merrimack Premium Outlet Shops proposed by Chelsea Properties was viewed by investors as a major economic building block and looked at as adding market stability in the area.
It was a real driver for investor interest," he said.
I'm still against the mall in our town, and I was surprised that they viewed it so positively in this article. I don't see why large corporations would be swayed by an enormous outlet mall. Fidelity, I know, isn't even open to the public, so why that was a factor, I don't know. Market stability? Who knows...
And for those of you unfamiliar with Continental Boulevard (I'm assuming all), it is a largely industrial road in Merrimack that experienced a lot of vacancies but seems to be making a comeback. I'm pretty excited that new companies are moving in because it has the potential to be an impressive high-tech industry showcase for Merrimack.