The downtown building that is set to serve as the offices for the Unum Group has been sold to a real estate investment and management firm by The Hanover Insurance Group.
CitySquare II Development Co LLC, which is a subsidiary company of Opus Investment Management Inc, The Hanover's investment arm, announced the sale of the seven-story office building late last week. The building, which is one of the CitySquare development project's anchors at the intersection of Mercantile and Foster Streets, has been sold for a non-disclosed purchase price to Benderson Development Company from Sarasota in Florida.
Benderson is one of the biggest privately held real estate firms in the whole of the United States, owning and managing over 700 properties encompassing over 40 million square feet across 38 states. Its portfolio includes hotel, office, residential, retail and land holdings such as a CVS store in Wayland and Highfield Commons in Berlin. Benderson Development bought the 214,000 square foot property and the adjacent five-level, 860-car covered parking garage located at the northeast end of the mixed development CitySquare site, which covers an area of 12 acres in total. It is expected that Unum will move its operations to the property from its existing offices on Chestnut Street as of next month. Tennessee-based Unum signed a 17-year lease on the site two years ago, back in 2010.
"We are very pleased to welcome Benderson Development to CitySquare and to Worcester," says the chief executive officer of The Hanover, Frederick Eppinger. "Benderson's investment infuses even more life into CitySquare and will further help advance the city's downtown revitalization and economic development efforts."
Eppinger went on to say that The Hanover decided to take on the development of the building in order to launch work at CitySquare.
