You could always get there at some point, but the opening of a new exit ramp just north of the Interstate 93/Route 128 cloverleaf in Woburn is expected to make that chore considerably easier for tenants in the suburban north office market.
“I think it will be greatly improved,” Spaulding & Slye Colliers broker Tamie R. Thompson said last week of traffic in the area, which for years has been a rush-hour nightmare for commuters. For the first time, vehicles navigating the North Woburn commercial strip will be able to leave and enter I-93 without first having to circumvent Route 128.
The pair of twin flyover bridges, located one mile north of the cloverleaf, are expected to handle between 14,000 to 15,000 vehicles per day. The $15 million exit ramp was officially unveiled last week at a ceremony attended by state transportation officials, local politicians and area business leaders.
Among the projects expected to benefit the most from the new route is the MetroNorth Corporate Center, an ambitious mixed-use complex being carved out of a former Superfund site by National Development of New England. The ramp leads directly to the 265-acre MetroNorth and abutting Presidential Way Park. Along with retail users such as a Target department store and a planned hotel, the development will feature an estimated 1 million square feet of office space.
“It’s getting much more established,” Thompson said of MetroNorth, a notion bolstered by a major lease inked last week by NDNE and Lois Paul & Partners. The well-heeled public relations company will take 90,000 square feet in the project at a new, 145,000-square-foot building now under construction. The remainder of the space is still available for lease, but Thompson said the tight market conditions will likely lead to a commitment over the near term.
Spaulding & Slye represented Lois Paul in the deal, while Stephen J. Murphy and Insignia/ESG served as leasing agent for NDNE. Calls to Murphy and officials at NDNE were not returned, but sources insist that a deal has been signed with Lois Paul, a subsidiary of industry giant Fleishman-Hillard. Efforts to contact Lois Paul officials were unsuccessful by press deadline.
The opening of the new exit ramp and the MetroNorth project also signify new days ahead for Woburn, perhaps better known for the infamous W.R. Grace lawsuit which inspired the movie “A Civil Action.” Local officials see MetroNorth as a symbol of the city’s resurgence, one which has led to a number of recent office and retail developments in recent years.
Along with Lois Paul, for example, other companies that already have committed to MetroNorth include Genuity, the former GET Internetworking, which has plans for upwards of 650,000 square feet of space in several buildings. Paychex recently completed a 75,000-square-foot building, while ArQule now occupies 130,000 square feet there, having relocated from Medford.
The advent of high-tech companies into the market is also changing Woburn’s image, as witnessed across the highway from MetroNorth at Unicorn Park. A more mature complex, Unicorn nonetheless has seen its share of new construction recently, including the Davis Cos.’ 190,000-square-foot 500 Unicorn Park Drive. The building features such companies as Intelligent Environments, nCipher and MyTeam.com, and park officials are now preparing to construct a 168-room hotel in the park.
Ironically, a development site that runs alongside the new exit ramp on the east side of I-93 is not expected to see improved access. InWood, being developed by Edward Callan, will still require people to use local streets to get into the park, which to date has no buildings under construction.
Native Honored
Last week’s ceremony also served as an opportunity to honor Woburn native James L. McKeown, for whom the new interchange is named. McKeown, who died suddenly of a heart attack in November 1996 at the age of 41, was not only a beloved member of the city in which he grew up, but also president of Woburn-based Cummings Properties, the area’s largest commercial property owner.
The unexpected death of McKeown, an avid marathon runner, led to Cummings establishing a scholarship program in his memory. Since its inception, the program has awarded scholarships of $1,000 to $5,000 to hundreds of high school seniors. In addition, the city of Beverly named a new elementary school after him in recognition of McKeown’s work in that community, where Cummings has restored the former United Shoe Machinery property into a 1.6 million square foot office/research complex. Just three days before his death, McKeown had met with Beverly officials to arrange the donation of a parcel of land for the new school. He had also lobbied for years to get the new Woburn interchange built, Senate President Thomas A. Birmingham recently noted.
