Alpha last week closed on its $8.75-million purchase of 25 Computer Dr., complete with 41 acres of developable land. Wang Labs developed the old-tech manufacturing facility in 1985. In an exclusive interview with GlobeSt.com, Alpha president and CEO David Aldrich explains that the buy was a major departure for Alpha, which produces semiconductors for wireless and broadband applications.

"Our strategy is not to own a lot of real estate," he says. "We can use that money to grow our business and provide far greater returns than owning a lot of land. We chose to buy here because it allowed us to do what we wanted without paying the cost of capital in a sale/leaseback." For the record, Alpha owns or leases more than 400,000 sf in California, Maryland and Massachusetts.

He estimates that other lease-based arrangements could have doubled the price tag of the facility, to which Alpha plans to make $3 million in capital improvements. Included in the improvements are a complete gutting of the office space, which represents roughly half of the total, and an upgrade of services and some manufacturing space.