At the end of every month, as a new wave of leases expire, several stories of buildings in the Greater Boston area changing hands are released. Often, companies expand to fill neighboring square footage or relocate to larger facilities to accommodate new growth. This month, France’s Dassault Systèmes (DS), “a world leader in 3D and Product Lifecycle Management solutions,” announced the signing of the largest lease in Greater Boston for 2010: a 320,300 square foot campus, which spans 175 and 185 Wyman Street in Waltham, MA. The expansive buildings are composed of office space, technology labs, and a high-tech data center. (Image courtesy: http://www.3ds.com/)“This outstanding new campus will enable us to consolidate our businesses and employees into a single, world-class, state-of-the-art Americas headquarters that truly reflects the vision of our company while allowing DS to optimize our operational effectiveness and efficiency as we execute our growth plans,” said Al Bunshaft, Managing Director of DS Americas. “The Boston area has been the birthplace of many of the world’s most brilliant high tech companies and we are pleased to announce DS’s commitment to this dynamic area for the long term.”
Before selecting the Waltham location, DS led a comprehensive search of over 20 locations “stretching from Boston to Route 495” over the course of a year. One aspect of the Wyman Street location that appealed to DS was that it was built to LEED Gold standards, as established by the US Green Building Council. Additionally, the location provides easy access to Boston and Logan International Airport and will be optimal for recruiting workers from nearby colleges.
“We are thrilled that global technology leader Dassault Systèmes
chose to locate its new Americas corporate campus here in Massachusetts,” said Deval Patrick, Massachusetts’ Governor. “This decision speaks to the economic opportunity, world class talent, and innovation that are unique to the Commonwealth, and we look forward to a long partnership with Dassault Systèmes moving forward.” (Image courtesy: http://www.3ds.com/)The motivation to move into a new facility rose from necessity for DS after the company “out-grew” its former Lowell and Concord Massachusetts offices when its workforce within the state surpassed 800. This time, DS has anticipated continued aggressive hiring by selecting a large building for its regional headquarters, which provides plenty of room to future expansion.
Perhaps the only ones likely to see DS’s expansion as negative are the company’s rivals. Of course, even then, a little healthy competition is great for keeping companies on their toes. The fact that DS selected the Waltham campus in part because of its access to recent college graduates is encouraging. Providing a solid supply of quality jobs to recent graduates is one of the best ways to protect against a “brain drain” caused when young professional leave the state in search of better opportunities. It will be exciting to track Dassault Systèmes’ progress in the Bay State.
[Sources: http://bit.ly/8XYpzJ, http://bit.ly/d5BBgH, http://bit.ly/dii68o]
Share This Post:
