Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | December 23, 2024 | Worcester Business Journal 39 Year in Review: Industrial David Clark Co. buys site of future headquarters for $19M Following a May announcement the aerospace manufacturing company is moving its headquarters to Northeast Cutoff in Worcester, e David Clark Co. has purchased the site for $19 million. e deal, finalized on June 21, saw a real estate-focused affiliate of the Clark Co. purchase the property from Worcester-based 115 Northeast Cutoff Realty Trust, according to Worcester District Registry of Deeds records. e trust acquired the property for $3.9 million from Allegro Microsys- tems in May 2019, according to City of Worcester property records. Allegro moved its headquarters from Worcester to Marlborough in April 2018. e site contains three separate build- ings with a combined area of 223,963 square feet, with the largest building being a two-story, 203,663-square-foot structure built in 1975. e property was given a tax assessment value of $5.98 million in 2024, according to City of Worcester property records. e Clark Co., currently headquar- tered at 360 Franklin St., expects total relocation costs to reach $48 mil- lion, with $25 million going towards building renovations, according to City documents submitted as part of the company's request for a tax-increment financing agreement for the project. Founded in 1935, the David Clark Co.'s notable contributions to American society include the creation of the first anti-G suits for Allied fighter pilots during World War II, the development of pressure suits used by pilots who used the X-1 rocket plane to break the sound barrier, and creating spacesuits utilized during the Gemini and Apollo space programs. Robert Kraft's company buys site of Worcester furniture store for $1.8M e site of Rainbow Furniture in Worcester has been purchased for $1.8 million by an entity managed by e Kra Group, which has a separate facil- ity next door. e property, located at 112 Grove St., was sold in a deal finalized on July 16, according to Worcester District Registry of Deeds records. e property was purchased by TKG 112 Grove Street LLC, an entity that shares an address with Gillette Stadi- um in Foxborough, which serves as the headquarters of e Kra Group. Owned by New England Patriots owner Robert Kra, the Kra Group has a diverse portfolio that includes the New England Revolution soccer team, the Patriot Place complex, and Gillette Stadium. It's unclear what this news means for the future of the store. A store employee told WBJ that store owner Bob Bentley is on vacation and not available to com- ment. e Kra Group did not respond to a WBJ request for comment. e discount furniture store has been in operation in Worcester since 1980, according to its website. e Kra Group's non-sports hold- ings include Worcester-based packaging manufacturer Rand-Whitney, Foxbor- ough-based International Forest Prod- ucts, and UN1F1ED2 Global Packaging Group in Sutton. UN1F1ED2 operates a facility at 150 Grove St., a property directly next to Rainbow Furniture's location. Rand-Whitney operates from head- quarters in Worcester's South Quinsiga- mond Village, and both Rand-Whitney and UN1F1ED operate manufacturing facilities in Boylston. Robert Kra began his professional career at Rand-Whitney in the 1960s, when it was owned by his father-in-law, Jacob Hiatt. e 19,615-square-foot building at 112 Grove St. was once part of the Washburn and Moen North Works complex. Founded in 1831, Washburn & Moen manufactured wires for uses including telegraphs, piano, and hoop skirts, according to the website for regional tourism group Discover Central Massa- chusetts. By the late 1870s, the company employed more than 3,000 workers at its two locations in the city, making it Worcester's largest employer. Today, the property is part of the Washburn and Moen North Works District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, meaning it is subject to protections, including the City of Worcester's demolition delay ordinance. e property was given a tax as- sessment value of $555,800 in 2024, according to City of Worcester property records. Table Talk Pies properties, including HQ, sold for $50M Four properties utilized by dessert manufacturer Table Talk Pies, including its new headquarters and primary baking facility at 58 Gardner St. in Worcester, have been sold for $50 million in a deal to see the parcels change hands from Worcester's Chacharone Properties to Wakefield-based NorthBridge Partners. Neither Table Talk nor NorthBridge immediately responded to requests for comment on the sale, but it's unlikely these transactions from one real estate firm to another will have an impact on the company's operations at the sites. Table Talk's headquarters, a 137,310-square-foot facility completed in late 2021, fetched the highest total of the four properties with a $36.43-mil- lion sales price. e deal included a 51,200-square-foot warehouse at 25 Southgate St. sold for $9.91 million, a 35,715-square-foot cold storage facility at 65 Armory St. sold for $4.31 million, and a 26,000-square-foot warehouse 21 Southgate St. sold for $3.36 million. All four transactions were finalized on Oct. 3, according to Worcester District Registry of Deeds records. Combined, the four properties were given a 2024 tax assessment value of $8.81 million, according to City of Worcester property records, although the assessment of 21 Southgate St. does not A David Clark spacesuit Table Talk Pies' Worcester facility, where the manufacturer produces about 1 million desserts per week account for the finished construction of the warehouse at the site. e sale of the four properties comes aer the June sale of Table Talk to Rise Baking Co., a Minnesota-based firm which owns a number of food-related brands, which itself is owned by Con- necticut-based private equity company. NorthBridge Partners has made a handful of large purchases in the Central Massachusetts area in 2024, including the February purchase of a Devens cardboard manufacturing plant for $20.5 million and the acquisition of a Devens fluid pump manufacturing facility for $24 million. e construction of all four buildings was led by RP Masiello, a Boylston-based construction firm. Devens manufacturing facility sold for $24M Wakefield real estate fund Northbridge Partners has purchased a Devens manu- facturing facility for $24 million. e property, located at 16 Bulge Road, was sold in a deal finalized on March 15, according to Worcester District Registry of Deeds records. e property was sold by Scannell Properties, an Indiana-based real estate firm that purchased the then-undeveloped parcel for $3 million in December 2021 from MassDevelopment, the agency running business development in Devens. Following its purchase of the proper- ty, Scannell hired Framingham-based ARCO National Construction to build a 150,000-square-foot manufacturing facility, which ARCO broke ground on in November 2021. e facility was built for Watson-Marlow Fluid Technology Group, a United Kingdom-based com- pany specializing in the production of positive displacement pumps, according to a press release issued in November 2021 by Colliers. W

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