Travel Website Takes 280K SF in Boston BTS

NEEDHAM, MA-Travel website TripAdvisor has travel plans of its own. Normandy Real Estate Partners and Greenfield Partners said Tuesday that they've signed the company to a 280,000-square-foot build-to-suit office building here, where TripAdvisor will relocate its headquarters from nearby Newton.

A spokeswoman for Normandy tells GlobeSt.com that TripAdvisor is the first BTS tenant to commit to what's planned to eventually be four office buildings at Center 128, an office park that Normandy and Greenfield are redeveloping. The property has development potential of up to 830,000 square feet; a new 128-key, 89,740 square foot Needham Residence Inn has already been completed there.

TripAdvisor currently occupies 119,000 square feet at 141 Needham St. in Newton, and employee growth projections mean it will soon outgrow the space. It will relocate to Center 128 in 2015, says Normandy's spokeswoman.

This past December, voters at a special town meeting in Needham approved tax breaks for TripAdvisor, the Boston Globe reported Tuesday. The company will be exempt from paying 76% of taxes to the town for the first five years, and 1% of its taxes for the following eight years. Although it means $1.8 million in tax breaks for TripAdvisor, for Needham it means $6 million more in taxes than the town would have collected without the project happening, the Globe reported.

“We couldn't have picked a more innovative, forward-thinking company to anchor this great location and we're thrilled that we could help TripAdvisor find a new corporate home,” Justin Krebs, principal of Normandy Real Estate, says in a release. “We're confident that Center 128's visibility and amenities will continue to attract best-in-class companies who will all benefit from a customized office environment intended to foster innovation and recruit and retain top talent in a highly competitive job environment.”

Normandy will serve as the project's master developer. John Varholak and Ron Friedman of Richards, Barry, Joyce and Partners represented Normandy and Greenfield. Anne Columbia of the Columbia Group and Mark Roth of Cushman & Wakefield represented TripAdvisor.