By Veronica Grecu, Associate Editor
A troubled manufacturing facility in Devens, MA, changed hands last month for $36.05 million in a transaction brokered by CBRE/New England.
Three years after paying close to $8.5 million for the Class A facility at 112 Barnum Rd., long-time partners Calare Properties and Hackman Capital Partners of Los Angeles sold the asset to an unnamed institutional real estate investor.
Located within the master-planned Devens Industrial Park, the 392,000-square-foot property sits on 23 acres of land, just four miles west of Route 495 and two miles north of Route 2, and within close proximity to multiple highways. The facility was completed in 2010 for $480 million as headquarters for Evergreen Solar, one of the largest solar panels producers in the United States at that time. However, by mid-2011, Evergreen decided to lay off its 800 workers and shut down the factory in Devens. According to Reuters, the move was caused by a 35 percent drop in the price of solar wafers—Evergreen’s main product—and increasing competition from cheaper producers based in Asia and Europe. As a result, Evergreen filed for bankruptcy and shifted production to China, where manpower and manufacturing costs were significantly lower.
Shortly after Evergreen left its short-lived home in Lowell, the Calare/Hackman partnership purchased the empty solar plant and invested around $20 million in the property, including the acquisition costs. Part of the vacant factory was occupied by French manufacturer Saint-Gobain, then the remaining space was leased by health care supplies manufacturer Nypro. Meanwhile, Saint-Gobain ceased operations in Devens and about half the space is available for lease, the Boston Globe reported.
Image courtesy of Calare Properties