Discount retailer TJX Cos. scored a deal of its own to acquire two office buildings that will be used to grow its expansive corporate campus in greater Boston.
The parent company for T.J. Maxx and Marshalls purchased the properties at 3 and 5 Speen St. in Framingham, Massachusetts, less than half a mile away from its headquarters in the Boston suburb. The retail giant paid more than $24 million for the two buildings, which will add more than 156,600 square feet to its corporate footprint in the area.
Massachusetts-based investment firm Carruth Capital sold the Speen Street buildings. The company initially acquired both properties as part of its own portfolio deal for $23.75 million back in 2000, according to CoStar data.
TJX will leverage its new purchases to "support our home-office operations," a spokesperson told CoStar News, using them to connect a patchwork of properties the company owns in and around its main campus.
Right next door is the 450,000-square-foot building at 550 Cochituate Road the discount retailer purchased in 2019 as part of a $120 million portfolio deal. The company also owns upwards of 700,000 square feet in nearby Marlborough.
"Given the location, we expect the purchase will further connect our current home-office buildings at 770 and 550 Cochituate Road and support a campus environment for our associates," the TJX spokesperson said of its Speen Street acquisition.
Tenant to landlord
Across the country, companies such as TJX are taking advantage of the stressed office market by scooping up properties that otherwise may have been out of their financial reach. Owner-user sales have become increasingly popular in recent years, largely due to the increased confidence among companies willing to commit to long-term investments as well as their interest in gaining more control over their real estate.
Office listings — many of which are being offered at steep discounts — are luring a growing cohort of tenants interested in becoming their own landlords and willing to bet on the industry's recovery, bolstered by return-to-office pushes.
Sales volume nationally has plummeted by more than 55% over the past year to $35 billion, according to CoStar data, a nearly 15-year low. Yet, on a quarterly basis, sales held steady throughout 2023 and even ticked up in the early months of 2024 as significant discounts pushed an expanding group of investors — in particular owner-occupiers that want to control their own spaces — to take advantage of more deals, data shows.
The parent company for moving giant U-Haul recently scooped up one of Phoenix's tallest skyscrapers to house its headquarters. The company paid less than $24 million for the 25-story high-rise, far below the property's last price tag of $77 million.
In Denver, the founder and CEO behind manufacturer Tuff Shed last month paid $23 million for the Centerpoint I and II office complex that has housed its corporate headquarters for more than three decades. The properties total nearly 374,000 square feet and sold for far less than the $77.5 million paid when they last traded hands in late 2019.
For TJX, the office investments are just a small slice of the company's total real estate portfolio. The retailer's global reach stretches past 4,700 outposts that collectively total more than 144 million square feet of leased or owned space, according to CoStar data. Its retail locations account for roughly 80% of that footprint while its more than 45 offices span more than 2.6 million square feet.