By Dana Gerber
Welch’s is pouring one out for Concord, Mass., the town where Ephraim Wales Bull first cultivated its namesake grape in 1849, as it prepares to move its headquarters about 10 miles southeast to Waltham.
The fruit juice company announced plans on Wednesday to relocate its headquarters to a 60,000-square-foot space in Waltham’s Reservoir Place, right off Interstate 95, a move that it says will come with an increase in headcount.
“Being on that 128 loop and that thoroughfare just provided so much more opportunity for us,” said Christine Kinahan, Welch’s chief people officer. “Being a food and beverage cooperative, having that branding on 95 and that prominent place really mattered to us, as well.”
Welch’s looked at more than 30 properties in Greater Boston before it decided to sign a 15-year lease in Reservoir Place, Kinahan said. In addition to visibility along a major highway, the company wanted to find a space more convenient to its 160 regional employees and more attractive for a hybrid workforce.
“We wanted to make sure it was a modern space full of modern amenities — so the investment of having access to a gym space, a grab-and-go cafeteria . . . phone booths, those types of things,” Kinahan said.
Though Welch’s is downsizing from its Concord office, which clocks in at more than 84,000 square feet, the company is actively hiring as it prepares to move into the smaller digs.
“We do expect to have a steady environment of open positions for the next several years,” said Kinahan.
Renovations will begin on the Waltham office in August, said Kinahan, with plans to build out a lab space for testing its new products, which include juices, jellies, and fruit snacks. The company hopes to make the move from Concord next June.
“They have the benefit of an urban experience, with free parking, right on US 95, and that’s attractive to a lot of companies that are trying to recruit and retain the best talent that there is,” said John Boyle, executive vice chair of Cushman & Wakefield, which assisted Welch’s in its search for a new space.
Westborough-based firm A/E/C Solutions will be the project manager for the new space, while Boston-based SGA will serve as the builder and interior designer. Reservoir Place is owned by Boston Properties, one of the region’s biggest office landlords.
The news is a bright spot for the Greater Boston commercial real estate market, which is saddled with a glut of vacancies, particularly in the Route 128-Massachusetts Turnpike submarket, where Reservoir Place is located.
That area had more than 3 million square feet of directly available space in the first quarter of this year, according to real estate firm Colliers. Its record 25.8 percent availability rate is higher than both Boston and Cambridge, for instance (24.3 percent and 23.1 percent, respectively).
“The market aggressively pursued Welch’s, and Boston Properties was fortunate to win the day,” said Boyle.
Other tenants in Reservoir Place include biotech Invivyd, marketing firm Constant Contact, and health care benefit payments company Alegeus.