King Street Secures 101 KSF Lease in Boston

The tenant will move into 39 Jackson Road in September 2024. Image courtesy of Ascend Elements

EV battery manufacturer Ascend Elements has signed an agreement with King Street Properties for a 101,000-square-foot facility in Devens, Mass. The company will relocate and expand its headquarters and R&D center, starting in September 2024. CBRE is handling leasing operations for the owner.

The company’s headquarters is at 133 Flanders Road in Westborough, Mass., roughly 30 miles from the new location.

Ascend Elements noted that its growing employee base is what triggered the move—it currently has 350 workers globally, of which 140 are in Massachusetts.

The building is within Pathway Devens, a 45-acre purpose-built biomanufacturing campus, currently still in development by King Street Properties. Upon completion, it will feature more than 700,000 square feet of purpose-built facilities, of which 400,000 are currently operational. The park will also include an 8,300-square-foot amenity center which slated for opening in 2024’s first quarter. Other tenants at the campus include Electric Hydrogen, Azzur Group and Commonwealth Fusion Systems.

Boston ranks high in industrial rent gains

Located at 39 Jackson Road, the building is near Highway 2 and roughly 43 miles from Boston. It is also less than 9 miles from the Fitchburg Municipal Airport.

Among Northeastern markets, Boston registered the highest increase in average asking rates for industrial assets, up 9.5 percent year-over-year, to $9.55 per square foot as of July, according to a recent CommercialEdge report.

As for development, the metro had 5.5 million square feet of industrial space under development, or a 2.3 percent expansion of stock—the second-largest pipeline in the region, behind Philadelphia, the same source shows.