Tracking Industrial Occupier Trends in Middlesex 3 Markets

Tracking Industrial Occupier Trends in Middlesex 3 Markets

Recently, Cresa released its Q3 Market Insight reports. These reports crunch the numbers behind commercial real estate trends across the region, including downtown Boston, Cambridge Office/Kendall Square, Suburban Office, and Industrial/Flex space. When we zero in on specific communities within those markets, the overall news is positive: Massachusetts remains a fantastic location to build a business and recruit talent of all backgrounds and strengths.

There’s a lot to love about the Bay State, but we wanted to dig a bit deeper into the numbers. Taking a look at the communities served by Middlesex 3 Coalition, we see a robust network of labor talent and properties that make it possible to attract a wide range of enterprises that demand top-tier talent and buildings that offer the flexibility to accommodate a variety of different industries.

Let’s look at how the towns within Middlesex 3 Coalition’s footprint shake out in the latest Cresa Market Insight reports.

Tough Tech Finds a Home in Billerica and Beyond

Cresa’s data analysts are seeing strong interest in the corridor north of Boston extending into southern New Hampshire. Specifically, “tough tech” is thriving, and this is a bucket we believe captures many of the industrial-type users exploring opportunities in the area. Billerica is one community seeing an uptick in spec development projects, including 161 Concord Road, a Berkeley Investments property, and 315 Treble Cove, a planned high-tech manufacturing and R&D space.

In general, Billerica is a top destination because of its eminent flexibility. The property assets in the region can be readily adapted to a variety of tough tech uses, from aerospace and defense to semiconductors and renewable energy. Overall, this quality is found in many of the Middlesex 3 communities, and distinctively different from other industrial areas in Massachusetts like the South Coast, which is geared more towards warehousing and distribution industries.

As an aside, the work we do with clients often showcases how competitive the Middlesex 3 market can be. While our client may be in the defense sector, the other companies vying for the same space operate in totally different industries, demonstrating how the flexibility of industrial/flex properties in the market translates to rarely suffering for occupants. This differs from other regions of the state that now have a glut of life sciences properties sitting vacant, all of which were built for a highly specialized end user.

Attracting Top-Tier Talent from Across the Commonwealth

As part of its Market Insight reports, Cresa also looks closely at the Life Sciences market as well as Cambridge Office. Both sectors rely heavily on local educational institutions to spin-off

companies that will grow via incubators and eventually occupy dedicated office space. These markets have seen slow growth over the last few quarters, but Middlesex 3 communities continue to benefit from the companies that outgrow their startup space as orders and demand increase. For instance, Fourth Power, a thermal energy storage and grid resilience company spun out of MIT, recently leased a 47,500-square-foot manufacturing facility in Bedford.

Even companies based here for decades choose to remain local when it comes time to expand. Front Runner Bus Group’s story began in Billerica, and when the company went through a major rebranding and introduced new products that demanded an updated space, it chose to stay in Billerica, securing 88,000 SF at 23 Esquire Road.

Middlesex 3 communities are a strong draw for industrial and flex occupiers looking for property and people that can support complex missions and growing product lines, a trend we expect to hold steady for the foreseeable future.