MathWorks to Invest $113,000,000 at One Boston Scientific Place, Natick, MA
NATICK – Ever since the days when it was gushing out Carling’s Black Label beer, the massive facility on Superior Drive that for the past 20 years has served as home to
Boston Scientific Corp. has been a stalwart of commerce for the Natick/Framingham submarket. In between its brewery and medical devices phases, the 50,000 sf complex was home to Prime Computer before that mid-1980’s firm disappeared from the corporate landscape.
Now, however, a new chapter is being written on Superior Drive, one that only adds to its eclectic history, and a portion that has had an extended prologue given that the deal involving Software concern MathWorks as new owner was initially announced last autumn when Boston Scientific unveiled plans to consolidate operations in Marlborough at a company owned campus. The delay came when MathWorks signed a sale/leaseback to give Boston Scientific time to complete a new building in Marlborough.
Besides the city of Marlborough, which also attracted the TJX Cos. last year to invest in a major project there, one beneficiary of the Natick deal is R.W. Holmes Realty Co., a Wayland based real estate services firm and exclusive agent for the buyer. Along with Boston Scientific advisor William Bailey of Jones Lang LaSalle, R.W. Holmes President Garry Holmes waited patiently and quietly over the past several months as the Natick portion of the Boston Scientific plan worked its way through, finally culminating in the $55 million conclusion this past week. Prior to its closing, the firm was bound by a confidentially agreement restricting any discussion.
According to Holmes, MathWorks intends to develop a second major facility on the Boston Scientific campus that sits along Route 9. In total, $113 million will be spent for acquisition, fit out and renovation of the facility, including a new parking garage to add spaces for 400 vehicles. “MathWorks has committed to adding 600 new full-time jobs at the proposed expansion site on Superior Drive, making it one of the largest job creation projects in the state,” conveys Holmes, further noting his client’s agreement to keep its current employee roster of 1,875 people at the Apple Hill headquarters. All told, Natick will have more than 2,650 MathWorks employees.
Holmes has played a significant role in the MathWorks space strategy over the years, with the fast-growing software concern that serves both education and research sectors displaying a voracious appetite for real estate since he found them their first space allowing the founders to “move out of their garage” 20 years ago, Holmes recalls as he assists the group in finalizing permits for what will soon be a total footprint of 1.1 million sf.
Observers maintain subtle inquiries from MathWorks over the years regarding the Boston Scientific campus may have led the owner to pursue the Marlborough consolidation, knowing the Natick site would not have to be carried for any period of time. Holmes declined to discuss what the seller was thinking when opting to harvest the complex, but concurs that having MathWorks in play proved prescient for locals.
“The town was delighted,” says Holmes. Superior Drive “makes up a lot of the town’s real estate, and to have that filled by MathWorks when it could have sat their empty has to be a big relief for them . . . It’s a great solution for everyone.”