DeMarco of Campanelli speaker at chapter's breakfast in Newton

The New England Chapter had 40 attendees at its popular Featured Landlord breakfast at the Newton Marriott on Thursday, April 17th. Dan DeMarco, president of Campanelli Co. spoke about the industrial and office projects that they have throughout Massachusetts. The meeting commenced with Chapter president Mark Stevens reminding the SIOR members of the SIOR National Convention in Washington, D.C on April 26th, the May 8th evening Bull and Beer at Bakey's in the financial district of Boston and the golf outing on May 22nd. Established in 1947, Campanelli Co. is a full service commercial real estate development company with extensive experience in industrial, office, warehouse/distribution and medical markets. To date, Campanelli has developed over 17 million s/f of commercial properties in New England and the eastern seaboard. The company's signature capabilities include land development, design and build, redevelopment and value-added acquisitions. DeMarco spent the morning reviewing different projects that the Campanelli Co. has been involved in, but started with its history. The company began as a home building company. In 2007, their construction volume was $180 million and they now own or have developed 11 Mass. business parks. They have 59 employees. The company was named the 2004 NAIOP Distinguished Developer of the Year. DeMarco's father, Bob DeMarco, started the commercial division at Campanelli and built shopping centers and redeveloped lumber mills. Their focus has been in three areas: 1. Land development 2. Construction: which is their roots and Jeff runs the construction company. 3. And an Acquisition Division They now conduct mostly design/build and build-to-suit for construction. In 2000-01, they started the Acquisition Division and joined AMB in 1998. Steve Murphy heads up the acquisition division. They focus on finding assets for value added or as DeMarco remarked "buying ugly" and repositioning the asset. He then went on to highlight their projects that included: 1. 20 Walk Up Dr., Westboro, an office, R&D project of 113,000 s/f on 34 acres. 2. Weymouth Woods Corp. Center and Medical Center of 164,663 s/f. 3. 1623 Turnpike St., Stoughton. BTS of 134,200 s/f as a 3 level storage facility 4. 10 cold storage facilities along the east coast and Texas for Preferred Freezer Services totaling 1,599,000 s/f and costing $125-160 per s/f. 5. The Park at Great Woods, Mansfield has 90 acres of developable land for retail or hotel facility. 6. Campanelli Business Park, Middleboro which they have owned since 1986 and sold off most of the lots for industrial uses. 7. Campanelli Business Park, Westfield has 110 acres vacant for industrial uses. 8. Campanelli Business Park, Freetown has 110 acres currently developed for Weyerhaeuser Corp. and Boston Beer Works. 9. Granite Woods Corp. Center, Braintree has 168,217 sf of office space. 10. Upland Woods, Norwood has 131 acres for redevelopment for R&D and flex users. 11. Presidential Woods, Woburn is a 110,000 s/f building and permitted for another 160,000 s/f building. 12. Boston Business Park, Dedham/Hyde Park has 733,000 s/f of industrial buildings and can add another 290,000 s/f for a total of one million s/f of industrial space. SIORs thanked DeMarco for his review and presentation of future projects. The New England Chapter would also like to thank Jim Boudrot for organizing this successful venue.