Former Reebok HQ given new identity as ‘The Block’

Main lobby of The Block building showing new branding and marketing materials. (Photo courtesy of Spear Street Capital)

More than 16 months after acquiring the former Reebok world headquarters property off Royal Street in Canton, new owner Spear Street Capital remains hard at work executing on its bold new vision for the sprawling corporate campus.

The 42-acre property, designed and built for Reebok in 2000 but having been recently reimagined as “The Block,” features 560,000 square feet of available office space together with a staggering level of amenities, including a fitness center, track, and a variety of indoor and outdoor meeting spaces. It is a campus, according to Spear Street, that is unparalleled in greater Boston, offering direct access to the city yet situated in a bucolic environment “designed for those who yearn for space — to roam, collaborate, gather, meditate, run (or walk), socialize, play, get inspired, and do great work.”

And while staying tight-lipped on the subject of prospective tenants, the new landlords and their team are open to any number of possibilities and would seemingly be comfortable with a range of outcomes, from landing a single, long-term institutional user to overseeing a bustling, multi-tenant environment with shared common spaces.

Already they have moved beyond the conceptualization stage and, in the words of Spear Street VP Michael Rak, are ready to start “swinging hammers” as part of the first phase of an ambitious capital improvement plan.

On a recent tour of the main facility, Rak provided an overview of the kinds of improvements that are in store while also offering insights into their own level of commitment to the property and what drew the firm to the site in the first place.

On the most basic level, said Rak, the Reebok campus was an ideal fit for Spear Street, which bills itself as an “owner and operator of distinctive office properties” in the U.S., Canada and Europe valued at greater than $25 million.

“We specialize in acquiring differentiated excess corporate real estate like this and investing time and capital into the repositioning so that the next user is able to envision their company succeeding in such an environment,” explained Rak.

Among Spear Street’s other current assets are the Wellesley Gateway building and the Center at Corporate Drive office park in Burlington. They have bought and sold a number of other assets in the greater Boston area while also investing heavily in the Texas, California, and Pacific northwest markets. All told, they have invested in more than 70 properties since 2001 with typical holding periods ranging from “several years to over a decade.”

Still, Rak said the Canton property is unique among Spear Street’s past and present assets, not only in terms of what it can offer potential tenants but also due to the “tremendous” brand awareness associated with the site.

“And while that’s a positive,” said Rak, “we also thought it was a negative because everybody just constantly thought about this as ‘Reebok, Reebok, Reebok.’ We wanted to distance ourselves, and then we wanted to reintroduce it.”

To achieve that distance, the company conceived of The Block, rolling out not only a new name but a new logo and website, www.theblockboston.com. Continuing in that spirit of “productively getting away from Reebok,” they also worked with the town of Canton to have the name of the road on which the campus is located changed from J.W. Foster Boulevard, after the co-founder of Reebok, to Orchard Way, which is a nod to the property’s previous existence as an apple orchard.

Regarding the origins of The Block and the branding around that name, Rak said the thinking was that the campus is “really a neighborhood block.”

“You’re effectively leasing a building that’s part of an intimate neighborhood,” he said. “It provides you with everything that you could ever want, and selling that and reiterating that message over and over again is proving valuable because that’s, at the end of the day, what users are looking for.”

While the vision for the campus was “pretty clear out of the gate,” Rak said the planning and brainstorming that went into it took months and involved input from a team of consultants, including Elkus Manfredi Architects and marketing firm Neoscape. Also part of the team at The Block are Newmark Group and CBRE.

As for the physical upgrades that are planned, the centerpiece is a brand-new dining area that will be open and airy and have the atmosphere of an urban “food hall” with a variety of service stations and seating areas.

Rendering of The Block’s new dining area prepared by Elkus Manfredi Architects

Other phase 1 improvements, conceived in collaboration with Elkus Manfredi, include a reimagined patio area and a reimagined lobby with a “pretty extensive furniture package.” Rak said construction will be taking place over the next several months with upgrades slated for an “early Q4 2019 delivery.”

In addition to the capital improvements and rebranding effort, Spear Street has also invested considerable time and dollars into curating the marketing experience and tour for prospective tenants. Part of this process involved “white-boxing” the entire fourth floor in one of the primary buildings — effectively returning the space to its original base building condition. That way, said Rak, “you can see the true slab heights, you can appreciate the efficiency of the floor plates, [and] you can appreciate the light that’s coming in unhindered by electrical lighting.”

The tour also incorporates a number of other extra touches, including a large map graphic highlighting the site’s proximity to public transportation and major highways; large displays for each of the four buildings that identify the dedicated tenant spaces; and a 3-D visualization of an interconnected stairwell to illustrate some of the design possibilities within each space.

Rak said the level of thought and expense that went into the marketing experience for The Block probably exceeded any other project the company has worked on. “And that’s because this project warranted it,” he said. “We know that this is a tough project to visualize, so we wanted to make it as clear as possible so that anybody coming in recognizes that you’re partnering with a landlord who believes in this. We’re not just saying, ‘Hey, come on in and let’s throw up the dice.’ This is a thoughtful process.”

Taken as a whole, Rak believes The Block is nearly unbeatable as a piece of corporate real estate — and that’s without saying anything about their many corporate neighbors, which is soon to include Trillium Brewing Co., who purchased a 20-acre parcel from Spear Street to build a brand-new headquarters and taproom that is also slated to include a restaurant, outdoor patio and event space.

“The opportunity here is one that doesn’t really exist anywhere else in the greater Boston area,” said Rak, “and that is you can come in and lease 500-plus-thousand square feet. It’s ready, it’s vacant, and it was built to a standard that you really couldn’t ever fathom building today.”

He added, “This is the only place in greater Boston where you have an opportunity, virtually overnight, to create a true ‘live-work-play’ experience for a user and their employees.”

To learn more about The Block, download the e-brochure at www.theblockboston.com.

Short URL: https://www.thecantoncitizen.com/?p=59411

Posted by Jay Turner on Aug 2 2019. Filed under Business. Both comments and pings are currently closed.