The facility located at 351 Holt Road, North Andover, Massachusetts, sits on a 27.74 acre site consisting of a 248,500 square foot multidimensional manufacturing and distribution facility. The former home of Sweetheart Cup Company (Sweetheart), Solo Cup Company (Solo), and more recently Dart Container Corporation (Dart), after acquisition of Solo, is in close proximity to I-495, I-93, I-95 and Route 125. The building offers manufacturing, warehouse, distribution and production areas along with 9,000 SF of office space. With adjacent Pan Am Railway line access including direct access via a rail spur on the property, this facility provides optimal shipping and receiving options including two rail car doors, three drive-in doors, and eight existing loading bays with the potential for loading expansion. This facility also provides substantial power capacity suitable for heavy manufacturing, lab, or distribution users with 167 surface parking spaces adjacent to the building.
Atlantic Management Corporation’s (AMC) vision for the property, which had been vacant for approximately 4 years prior to AMC’s acquisition, far surpassed the then current appearance of an antiquated manufacturing facility which had been in need of improvements to meet current market demands. At that time, it was easy to understand why the leasing activities had been unsuccessful.
In understanding the current and future demands, AMC began transforming the asset for marketing to potential manufacturing/distribution users. Upon acquisition, our initial steps involved meeting with representatives of the Town of North Andover. To ensure potential users could envision the transformation of the facility to suit the needs of their operations, AMC’s primary focus was deferred maintenance and overall appearance of the property. Since Dart vacated the building in 2012 and held the lease at the property, our intention was to create a working relationship with Dart where the tenant would meet its lease obligations while the landlord further improved the property for enhanced marketability. AMC’s objectives at this juncture were closely aligned with Dart.
Working in conjunction with CBRE, the teams were tasked with finding a replacement user for the building to reduce or eliminate the financial obligations on Dart’s operations. Dart’s obligations included deferred maintenance such as landscaping, cleaning, and repairs to existing building systems; while AMC’s base building improvements included painting of the roof deck and walls within the warehouse areas, upgrading LED lighting throughout the warehouse and exterior portions of the building, and improving landscaping features/planting beds with new plantings. The property has been further improved with new mechanical rooftop heating equipment, asphalt/concrete replacement at loading bays, exterior building painting, and the application of a high-performance epoxy floor coating.
With assistance of the CBRE team and Cushman & Wakefield (representing Lifoam), Lifoam was introduced to the property in late 2016. Shortly after, Lifoam signed a long-term lease for the property while AMC concurrently negotiated a mutually agreeable buy-out with Dart.
Today, Lifoam has a state-of-the-art facility producing EPS foam coolers and gel packs for the fishing, medical, and retail industries. The property has been transformed into a prominent manufacturing facility with a distinguished manufacturer creating jobs for the community and state.
