Boston Builder Buys 45,000 SF for SE HQ

WEST PALM BEACH, FL-Boston-based general contracting firm Suffolk Construction Co. has acquired a 45,000-sf office building at 1 Harvard Circle for $9.1 million. The two-story building will serve as the company’s Southeast headquarters.

Suffolk plans to spend upwards of $2.5 million to gut the building and rehabilitate it to include hurricane-resistant and environmentally friendly features. The building will have hurricane impact glass and generators. Suffolk also plans to seek LEED certification.

Suffolk was represented by locally based NAI/Merin Hunter Codman chairman Neil Merin. “We first scoured the county for office properties in move-in condition for Suffolk Construction and then explored the feasibility of a build-to-suit property,” Merin says. “What we determined is that there are currently many underutilized office properties in great locations that, with a capital infusion, represent a wiser investment than building from the ground up.”

The building, which sits on a lake and has jogging trails, is adjacent to Village Commons Shopping Plaza and a Bally Total Fitness Center. It is centrally located near where Village Boulevard intersects Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard, within close proximity to Interstate 95 and the Florida Turnpike.

“Palm Beach County has an abundance of office rehab opportunities,” Merin says. “With construction costs so high, rehab is often the way to go, and we’re seeking out those creative opportunities for many of our clients.”