Image courtesy of Sasaki
Architectural firm Sasaki has sold its sprawling riverside headquarters in Watertown to Berkeley Investments for a planned life science development.
Boston-based Berkeley Investments said it plans to update the 97,000-square-foot converted mill complex at 64 Pleasant St. into office and lab space. The property, which spans 2.6 acres, sold for $23 million, according to a Middlesex County Registry of Deeds filing.
Sasaki confirmed a pending relocation to Boston but declined to discuss details.
“Chase Mills and the city of Watertown have served us well during our time there, but as a firm with a growing national and global presence, we are excited for what the future holds for us in Boston, both for our incredible staff and the clients we serve,” Sasaki CEO James Miner said in a statement.
The 64 Pleasant St. site has housed a variety of mill and industrial buildings dating back to the 1600s. Sasaki moved into the complex in the 1970s.
“Historic buildings are home to a range of features that are attractive to life sciences companies, and we see great synergy between the needs of the market and the benefits this building provides,” Berkeley Investments President Young Park said in a statement.
Berkeley will maintain the current square-footage while updating building systems and adding higher ceilings needed for lab uses. SGA leads the design team, which includes participation by Sasaki.
The late landscape architect Hideo Sasaki founded the firm in 1953 while teaching at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design. The firm was part of the team that led the 1968 redesign of Copley Square, and was selected by the city of Boston in December to propose updates to the Back Bay plaza.
Chase Mills is the latest in a series of redevelopments and adaptive reuse projects in Watertown designed to tap into the life science industry’s growth needs, including Alexandria Real Estate Equities and National Development’s proposed 225,000-square-foot office-lab complex at the defunct Mount Auburn Club’s property, and Alexandria’s plans to attract more lab tenants to the 1-million-square-foot Arsenal on the Charles complex.
