BURLINGTON—After a difficult stretch throughout suburban Boston, this community on Route 128 is closing out the year on an upbeat note in the form of a 135,000-sf lease renewal by Nokia Networks at 5 Wayside Rd. Owned by Texas-based investor Behringer Harvard, the four-story office building was the first of two interconnected structures developed to house Nokia’s regional operations when it opened in 1999, but the competitive office market had the anchor tenant eyeing other options after subleasing much of the companion property at 15 Wayside Rd.
“It’s a good keep for Burlington,” Cushman & Wakefield Executive Director Mark Roth tells The Real Reporter in acknowledging Nokia has determined the best move is to remain at its longtime home. Roth advised the firm in an extensive space search, while the landlord was represented by Jason Levendusky and Andrew Majewski of CB Richard Ellis/New England.
Roth declined to discuss terms such as length or rental rate. There has been significant price erosion in Burlington during the past two years after rates briefly spiked around $33 per sf, with some estimates putting the current average in the $27-per-sf range. The departure of IBM to Littleton in a consolidation move, plus Sun Microsystems’ decision to sell its landmark campus abutting Route 3 have further dampened Burlington’s luster of late, making the Nokia renewal even more significant. The deal complements last month’s commitment by Avid Technologies to relocate its headquarters from Tewksbury to the former Sun property, now known as Network Drive, at which the firm will occupy close to 200,000 sf.
Nokia’s market search was not an indication of dissatisfaction with 5 Wayside Rd., Roth stresses, but rather a fiscally prudent step to assess viable alternatives in what has become a decidedly tenant-friendly environment. “It’s a beautiful building that works well” for Nokia, says Roth. Behringer Harvard has been a responsible landlord, he says, and the location is favorable thanks to its proximity to Route 128 and downtown Boston, plus a variety of nearby amenities, including the recently opened Wayside Commons lifestyle retail center that features a mix of high-end restaurants and retailers.
Totaling 270,000 sf, 5 and 15 Wayside Ave. were constructed by local landlord Gutierrez Co. and acquired by Behringer Harvard in 2006 for $82.2 million. Excess space at 15 Wayside Rd. was subleased by Nokia to Cognos and Intergen. It is unclear how much term is left on those subleases at that five-story property, which came on line in 2001. Besides 5 and 15 Wayside Ave., known collectively as the Burlington Office Park, Behringer Harvard owns the Ferncroft Corporate Center in Middleton, another well-regarded office property also purchased in 2006.
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