Worcester Business Journal

18 2 021 Economic Forecast • Worcester Business Journal • www.wbjournal.com R E A L E S TAT E New Greendale Mall plan calls for demolition in favor of apparent Amazon warehouse Originally published Nov. 25. See full version on WBJournal.com. Plans for remaking the Greendale Mall site in Worcester have changed dramatically since a vision for a new mixed-use development was raised nearly a year ago. Now, the mall's Bos- ton-based owner wants to demolish the largely vacant mall in order to build a warehouse and distribution center for a tenant that appears to be Amazon. e new building would roughly share the same outline as the mall today. Todd Finard, the CEO of owner Finard Properties, said Tuesday the firm has a non-disclosure agreement for the development and couldn't yet share more details. But details in permitting applications give clues that the tenant appears to be Amazon: a disclosure that the tenant plans to have 10,000 electric vans by 2022 and 100,000 by 2030, and is working on a strategy to be net zero carbon across their business by 2040. ose details match exactly those of Amazon, as does the building's pro- posed blue and gray exterior. Plans also call for a floor plan matching that of a typical retail packaging warehouse. Amazon has expanded across Central Massachusetts and areas closer to Boston, among other places, as more and more consumer traffic flows to the e-commerce giant. Amazon is mov- ing into a fulfillment center spanning 320,000 square feet in Milford that will be its second such center in the town. e site sold this month for $53 million. e planned single-story, 121,000-square-foot warehouse requires site plan approval and is slated to go before the Worcester Planning Board. e 380,000-square-foot Greendale Mall has slowly emptied in the past decade, and now sits largely empty. Among the few tenants remaining is a T.J. Maxx and HomeGoods store. Finard Properties paid $7.1 million for the mall — just $18 per square foot, far below what other area retail plazas have changed hands for — last December. Soon aer, the company gave plans for knocking down the mall in favor of a development to include apartments and medical offices. Staples sells Framingham headquarters for $165M Originally published Feb. 7. Framingham office retailer Staples has sold its longtime headquarters for $165 million to a New York firm specializing in sale-leaseback deals, according to the Middlesex County Registry of Deeds. e buyer, in a deal that closed Tues- day, 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 Massachusetts Turnpike. e head- quarters was built in 1999. e property, which was last assessed by the City of Framingham at $71 million. Staples did not return messages seek- ing comment Friday. e deal 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. Mendon auto dealer buys Uxbridge's Bernat Mill site Originally published Oct. 19. Kevin Meehan, the owner of the Im- perial automotive chain and a Mendon businessman, has bought the site of the former Bernat Mill in Uxbridge that burned down in 2007. Meehan bought the site in a $1.3-mil- Staples headquarters in Framingham Committed to the success of your business Established thirty one years ago in 1989, Bollus Lynch has grown to become one of the area's leading CPA firms. While we've expanded our depth and capabilities, the firm has remained steadfast in its deep commitment to the Central Massachusetts community and our growing list of valued clients. WINNER 2016 • 2017 • 2018 2019 • 2020 BOB A W A R D S B E S T O F B U S I N E S S 89 Shrewsbury St. Suite 200 • Worcester, MA 01604 508-755-7107 • www.bolluslynch.com BOLLUS LYNCH CERTIFIED PUBLIC ACCOUNTANTS & CONSULTANTS An Independent Member of the BDO Alliance USA PHOTO/GRANT WELKER

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