Worcester Business Journal

4 Worcester Business Journal | February 17, 2020 | wbjournal.com C E N T R A L M AS S I N B R I E F Staples sells Framingham headquarters for $165M V E R BAT I M Vaping giant sued Juul must "pay for the costs associated with combating this public health crisis affecting young people across Massachusetts." A lawsuit from the office of Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, which accuses vaping giant Juul of targeting its marketing toward young people Market opens "I was just a guy with a project idea and had no idea how to do it." Worcester developer Allen Fletcher, at the grand opening party of the Worcester Public Market inside his $21-million Harding Green development in the Canal District Economic growth "We see no reason why this won't continue just because it is long." Ann Tripp, chief investment officer at The Hanover Insurance Group in Worcester, at WBJ's Economic Forecast Forum, saying the region's and nation's steady moderate economic growth since 2009 will continue F ramingham office retailer Staples has sold its longtime headquarters for $165 million to a New York firm special- izing in sale-leaseback deals, according to the Middlesex County Registry of Deeds. e buyer, in a deal closed on Feb. 4, is LCN Capital Partners, a New York City firm whose portfolio includes 200 properties totaling more than 24 million square feet of space. e 48-acre site at 500 Staples Drive includes Staples' 907,000-square- foot building highly visible to passersby on the Massachu- setts Turnpike. e headquarters was built in 1999. e property was last assessed by the City of Framingham at $71 million. Staples did not return messages seeking comment. e property trans- action was first reported by the Boston Business Journal. e sale comes nearly two and a half years aer Staples was bought by New York-based Sycamore Partners, a private equity firm that paid $6.9 billion for the company. Staples became a private company in the deal, and joined a family including retailers Belk, Coldwater Creek, Hot Topic, Nine West Holdings, Talbots and e Limited. Staples Studio e sale follows another initiative launched by Staples in June as an effort to diversify its revenue streams and add to its top line. Aer ending a relationship with coworking firm Workbar, Staples announced its own in-house member- ship-based coworking concept at three Massachusetts retail stores. e new offering, Staples Studio, is now open in 11 retail stores in Massachusetts, New York and Canada, although none in Central Massachusetts. Staples Studio offers private or shared offices including podcasting studios, unlimited meeting room use, business cards, and unlimited black and white printing, along with free coffee and snacks. e locations of the company's new coworking spaces was previously occu- pied by Workbar via a collaboration with Staples.e two companies announced their separation on Feb. 26, with both indicating a desire to focus on their own customers, with Staples saying it wanted to broaden its range of coworking offer- ings for small businesses. Previous efforts by Staples to bolster its revenue streams included a $500-million purchase of Illinois wholesale office supplier Essendant in January 2019, and the Florida docu- ment imaging technology dealer DEX Imaging in February 2019 for an undis- closed price. A few months aer Sycamore bought Staples in 2017, CEO Shira Goodman le the company. She was replaced by former Coca-Cola executive Sandy Douglas. BY GRANT WELKER Worcester Business Journal News Editor The 48-acre Staples headquarters in Framingham is now owned by a New York company specializing in leasing back commercial properties to the companies selling them. W Sandy Douglas, CEO of Staples

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