Photo courtesy of Margulies Perruzzi Architects
Eastern Bank is consolidating its suburban office space north of Boston to a Wakefield office park owned by Hobbs Brook Real Estate.
The bank leased 51,751 square feet at 601 Edgewater Drive, part of Hobbs Brook’s Edge campus, the Waltham-based developer announced.
The transaction represents a 73-percent reduction in the bank’s office footprint north of Boston.
The Wakefield offices are scheduled to open in mid-2025, Hobbs Brook Real Estate announced. They will replace the bank’s 152,000-square-foot offices at 195 Market St. in Lynn and a 40,000-square-foot former Cambridge Trust operations center at 78 Blanchard Road in Burlington, according to the Boston Business Journal. Eastern Bank did not return messages seeking comment.
Boston’s north suburban office market already had nearly 272,000 square feet of negative absorption in the first three quarters of 2024, according to CBRE, raising the availability rate to 22 percent. The report tracks 157 buildings totaling 17.6 million square feet of office space along Route 128 corridor from Burlington to Gloucester.
Eastern Bank’s downsizing is the result of the merger and reduced demand for office space under its hybrid work policy, which requires two days in-office, Eastern Executive Chair Bob Rivers told the BBJ.
Eastern Bank completed the $528 million acquisition of Cambridge Trust in July.
Hobbs Brook is upgrading common areas at the property with a planned renovation of the existing cafe, upgrades to the fitness center and creation of new outdoor amenity space.
Hobbs Brook’s 1 million-square-foot Wakefield campus attracted another major lease this summer with HCC Global’s expansion to 44,000 square feet at 701 Edgewater Drive. To date, the campus has attracted 130,554 square feet of new leases and renewals, according to Hobbs Brook.
The developer is adding a conference center including breakout rooms at 701 Edgewater that will be made available to all of the park’s tenants.
Newmark represented Hobbs Brook on the Eastern Bank lease, while Cushman & Wakefield represented Eastern Bank.
