Dealmaker: Mesa West Funds $41M to Reposition Mass. Office Campus

Mesa West Capital, Los Angeles, provided Artemis Saracen Investments with $40.8 million to reposition a one-million-square-foot Maynard, Mass. office campus.

Artemis Saracen Investments, a joint venture between Saracen Properties LLC and Artemis Real Estate Partners, purchased the property’s mortgage from JPMorgan in February 2015 and acquired the asset a month later through a deed-in-lieu-of-foreclosure.

Formerly known as Clock Tower Place, the newly rebranded Mill & Main is a mixed-use development 25 miles west of Boston. The 50-acre site includes 12 vintage brick-and-beam buildings overlooking a 14-acre mill pond.

Loan proceeds will fund a capital improvement and leasing plan to reposition the property. Artemis Saracen Investments plans to update building systems, pedestrian plazas, a waterfront boardwalk and boutique retail venues.

Mesa West Vice President Daniel Tanner originated the financing from the firm’s New York City office. He said the deal represented the portfolio lender’s first transaction with Saracen and Artemis. The floating-rate financing included a three-year base term with two one-year extension options.

Constructed in 1847, the property served as a woolens mill until 1950 when it converted to an office park. It served as Digital Equipment Corp.’s headquarters between 1974 and 1993. The property reached 37 percent occupancy when Stratus Technologies signed a lease for 102,000 square feet. A fitness center, brew pub and brewing facility will open in the spring.

“Artemis and Saracen have already started to make headway at the property, and our loan is customized to allow them to continue their effort to reposition and lease up the asset,” Tanner said.

HFF senior managing director Jay Marshall arranged the financing.