As a testament to the company’s fortitude, VMD has been twice awarded project of the year by the NHPA and ASCE, in 2012 and in 2016.
VMD Companies is currently under construction at the Campus of Innovation Way, a 122-acre site located in Fall River, MA. The Project is fully permitted to deliver +/- 1,000,000 SF of modern LEED certified Class A space over four buildings in a severely supply constrained market posting less than a 5% vacancy rate.
Located directly off Route 24, allowing seamless connectivity to Interstates 95, 195, and 495 providing access to Boston, MA (40 mins), Providence, RI (25 mins), and the rest of the Greater New England Area. The Industrial Park is occupied by a 1.1 MSF Amazon Fulfilment Center, Mass Biologics, and recently sold 25-acres to Raw Seafoods for a fish processing and ice making plant.
The Campus at Innovation Way provides a compelling investment opportunity to target e-commerce, cold storage, distribution, high tech manufacturing, R&D, and Biopharma users. The subject property is being acquired +/- 50% below market value and is planned to deliver Phase One in Fall 2023.
The Grove is a strategically located campus offering users with a wide range of opportunities from warehouse & distribution, to high tech manufacturing, research & development and beyond. Prominently situated less than 2 minutes from the intersection of I-495, The Grove offers 576,000 SF of new construction industrial space. The Grove is surrounded by a wealth of large corporate users as well as an abundance of amenities making it an ideal destination for both regional and local companies.
The asset contains high bay warehouse space with a 7.5% office component on 8.09 acres of land in Myles Standish Industrial Park, the largest industrial park in New England. With tremendous power and infrastructure in place, 50 John Hancock provides a significant value-add investment opportunity to target e-commerce, distribution, manufacturing, R&D, and Biopharma users.
50 John Hancock benefits from superior logistical access throughout Greater Boston and beyond, with the two largest interstates in the region, I-495 and I-95, intersecting in the submarket and allowing for superior logistical access throughout Greater Boston and beyond.
Via a modest capital improvement program, the asset is ideally positioned to support the continued growth and demand for industrial assets located within the Boston MSA.
In October 2020, VMD acquired 523 Pleasant Street, a 178,800 square foot building in located in Attleboro, MA. VMD acquired the asset for over 58% below replacement cost and fully-leased at an attractive in-place unleveraged cash-on-cash return with current rents over 30% below market.
100% leased to two tenants through June 2023, the asset contains both industrial and office space on 13.74 acres of land in Attleboro’s premier industrial-office park. With the majority tenant paying well below market rent, 523 Pleasant Street provides a significant value-add investment opportunity with the ability to increase rents from mark-to-market on the asset.
The location offers easy access in all directions via proximity to I-95, I-295 and I-495. The Property is approximately 45 minutes from Downtown Boston, 45 minutes from Worcester, and 20 minutes from Downtown Providence. Attleboro provides excellent access to a strong labor pool and the Attleboro/New Bedford Industrial submarket currently has a vacancy rate of 6.1%.
As part of the value-add investment strategy, VMD will undertake an accretive capital repositioning program to further enhance the assets quality, market position, and attractiveness to current and future tenants.
In May 2021, VMD acquired 40 Strafello Drive, a 93,100 square foot industrial building located in Avon, Massachusetts. The Property is situated on 6.23 acres of land in the Avon Industrial Park, one of New England’s largest industrial parks, sprawling over 700 acres and home to 127 companies and over 4,000 employees. With ideal proximity to Greater Boston, 40 Strafello Drive provides a significant value-add investment opportunity to target ecommerce, distribution, manufacturing and R&D users.
Located approximately 20 minutes south of Boston and 45 minutes northeast of Providence, Rhode Island, 40 Strafello Drive benefits from superior logistical access throughout Greater Boston and beyond, situated on Route 24 and just minutes away from access to I-93 and Route 128/I-95. Prior to the COVID-19 crises, about 35% of industrial leasing activity was related to e-commerce. Now as much as 50% of industrial leasing activity has been tied to the online retail industry. Increased tenant demand for industrial space has attributed to a 7% increase in rental rates YTD, outpacing all property types. Via a modest capital improvement program, 40 Strafello Drive is ideally positioned to support the continued growth and demand for industrial assets located within the Greater Boston MSA.
Through VMD’s Private Equity network, VMD sourced and spearheaded the acquisition of the Iconic 826K sq ft NECCO candy manufacturing facility located at 135 American Legion Highway in Revere, MA through a joint venture with Atlantic Management. VMD realized it was critical to the assets’ acquisition to bifurcate NECCO’s operating company from NECCO’s real estate, and in doing so was able to acquire the real estate at approximately $60/sq ft, well below replacement cost.
In 2019, VMD secured a 10-year lease from Amazon to occupy 100% of the property as their last-mile distribution facility, rendering Amazon the largest employer of the City of Revere.
In January 2020, VMD sold the property to Clarion Partners for $355 Million ($430 per SF).
VMD acquired the former Macintosh College located off of Route 16 in New Hampshire’s Seacoast, an area widely considered the state’s economic hub. The college had in excess of 19 acres of underlying real estate which VMD utilized to reposition into a 200,000 sq ft mixed-use community.
VMD has developed and acquired in excess of 475 multifamily market-rate apartments throughout Greater Boston, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire.
These developments have been sourced and procured by VMD’s network. VMD has overseen all aspects of these respective acquisitions and developments.
Over $100MM of equity has been deployed on this opportunistic multifamily strategy that has exceeded expectations for all financial metrics originally underwritten.
In 2008 when the great recession commenced and VMD’s primary asset class focus at the time was retail, the company acknowledged an opportunity for a new investment strategy.
VMD started acquiring delinquent condo associations that were in arrears due to the downturn. The majority of these condo complexes and associations thought that paying their mortgage first would buy them time. However, due to Massachusetts law, an HOA fee supersedes a first mortgage.
The Company acquired multiple complexes that were not financeable to the conventional buying pool. It then legally restructured these associations and funded them with the necessary reserves to convert a non-financeable asset back into a financeable asset, thus bringing back to the conventional buying pool.
These transactions had very limited construction risk and were focused primarily on re-positioning the assets through the necessary legalities.
VMD acquired the fee simple interest and remaining base lease term at 1370 Barnum Ave in Stratford, CT, which had been leased to HSBC, one of the world’s largest banking and financial services organizations.
VMD worked hand-in-hand to buy out the in-place HSBC lease while simultaneously negotiating a lease with Advanced Auto Parts
