Originally built as an industrial warehouse, 30 Bearfoot Road became part of the drugmaker giant GlaxoSmithKline for manufacturing, clean room and R&D in 2005 when the building was acquired and renovated by Alexandria Real Estate Investments. Fast forward to 2021, McCord Properties, a West Coast based real estate investor expanding into the Metro Boston market purchases the then vacated 60,000 SF property to renovate and reposition into the market. Although in outdated condition, the building’s previous use as a drug manufacturing facility offered a good opportunity to appeal to current science manufacturing tenants once repositioned to meet market demand.

Enter Vivo Architecture, selected by the owners due to our extensive portfolio of previous successful conversions such as 33 New York Avenue. In collaboration with construction manager BW Kennedy Construction, we set out to white boxing 70% of the interior in preparation for a new tenant. The building’s core facilities were upgraded for building code compliance and new MEP systems requirements. The MEP presented challenges due to moving much of the new air HVAC infrastructure to the roof over all new roof dunnage and upgrading the other utilities to maximize flexibility and efficiency for future tenants.

The building’s exterior was redesigned with a new insulated metal panel system and all new windows. Selection of the exterior materials was based on economics, ease of installation, performance, and of course aesthetics .  The metallic metal paneling provided a modern aesthetic and superior energy efficiency. Of notice are the loading dock doors located on the same elevation as the main entry facing the road. These were redesigned to de-emphasize their visual dominance with the use of materials yet designed to allow trucks to back partially into the building for covered loading and unloading. New landscape design and repaving add to the curb appeal.

As the building renovations were ongoing at 30 Bearfoot, Motif FoodWorks, Inc., a company that specializes in creating plant-based foods signed on to expand their office and manufacturing facilities from their cramped headquarters in the Seaport in Boston. VIVO developed the manufacturing and warehouse spaces to customize the building’s interior with the requirements of Motif’s manufacturing process. A 17,000 Sf manufacturing suite was developed, and the project was completed within the time frame identified for completion of the building renovation, with the design team being able to accommodate Motif’s move into the building without additional construction time.