DANVERS, MA-The Sylvan Business Center, a 280,000-sf office/R&D complex here that once served as home to an Osram Sylvania manufacturing plant, has been sold for $16.7 million to Tea Light LLC, an entity managed by the Goggin Co. of Portland, ME. Mark Reardon, with CB Richard Ellis/New England, tells GlobeSt.com that the three conjoined buildings at 75 Sylvan St. were renovated by seller Applied Materials in 2001. The assets drew at least six interested buyers, but it was an offer by Tea Light that sealed the deal on the vacant office and R&D complex.

"They were the best buyers for the best price," says Reardon, noting that the LLC's parent company tried to buy the same property in 2002 before it was sold to Applied Materials. It was unclear why Goggin didn't acquire the property at that time, he says.

The property's new owner plans additional improvements including a new roof, "green" lighting, an upgraded HVAC system and a recycling area along with a fleet of onsite bicycles for exercise or personal commuting to nearby Danvers center. "Our goal is to create an environmentally responsible private campus," says Ann Goggin, principal of Tea Light.

CB Richard Ellis/New England, which will serve as the property's leasing agent, will begin an aggressive lease-up campaign to fill the complex with office, light manufacturing or R&D users, Reardon notes. "We'll go after tenants pretty hard," he says, adding that lease rates will be aggressively priced at or below market rate. Market rates in the Danvers area are currently in the high teens for office space and in the high single digits for industrial uses, he says.