A three-story, roughly 116,000-square-foot office building at One Burlington Woods Drive quietly changed hands in March for $8.5 million, a number that will make a lot of suburban landlords wince. Worcester-based K & L Realty Co. is the buyer, paying about $70 per square foot for the property. The building sits near Burlington Mall, was roughly 60% occupied at the time of sale, and features on-site perks including a cafeteria and a fitness center with showers and lockers.
That $8.5 million price tag is a steep drop from the $26.6 million the seller paid in 2013, a stark snapshot of how far suburban office values have fallen, as reported by Bisnow. According to the outlet, the sale appeared in deed records in March, and R.W. Holmes is handling campus leasing. Brokers at a recent industry event told Bisnow that a $70-per-foot entry point could give an owner a real cost edge when trying to pull tenants into Burlington.
Route 128 Market Pressure
According to Cushman & Wakefield's Q1 2026 MarketBeat, vacancy across the Route 128 corridor was about 17.8%, while 128 North, which includes Burlington, was roughly 14%. The report notes that leasing activity in 128 North totaled about 73,000 square feet in the first quarter, a pace that helps explain why buyers are pushing for deep discounts and why owners are weighing conversions or hefty tenant incentive packages.
Sale At 3 Burlington Woods Shows Same Trend
In the same office campus, the 175,000-square-foot life-sciences conversion at 3 Burlington Woods Drive also traded in March, selling for $16.5 million, far below the $58 million it fetched in 2022, per Bisnow. Associate Director Will Sleeper said on LinkedIn that Newmark arranged that closing. Building materials and listings note that the 3 Burlington property includes a fitness center, grab-and-go food service and charging stations.
Why Buyers Are Looking Now
At an entry price near $70 per square foot, a buyer can realistically underwrite tenant incentives, capital improvements or a conversion strategy that would have been tough to justify at prior pricing. Cushman & Wakefield also points out that office-to-residential conversions and owners who spend on common-area and amenity upgrades are the most likely to steady performance. Marketing materials show One Burlington was renovated in 2011 and list on-site cafeteria and fitness amenities that could help a new owner lease the property more quickly. Those details appear on the campus website.
Public deed filings show both Burlington Woods transactions were recorded in March and were first reported by industry outlets. Representatives for Griffith Properties, K & L Realty and Newmark did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Local brokers say Burlington still attracts tenants that need Route 128 access, but only when the numbers work and the amenity package is strong enough to get employees in the door.
