Page 18 - BusinessWest November 24, 2025

The new courthouse in Lowell is one of several opened
recently or in the design/construction phase.
considered necessary for this project to work.
“During the process of working with the Asset Management
Board for the authorization for this project, we really tapped into
expertise of the development community members of that board
for their recommendations about what length of term would enable
developers to not only be interested, but obtain financing on terms
that could be most favorable, ultimately, to the Commonwealth in
what they would pass through in terms of the lease cost.”
In those respects, this project is most similar to the new State
Police crime lab in Marlborough, a 200,000-square-foot, $300 mil-
lion project that comes with a 20-year lease; construction is due to
start in early 2026.
Sheehan said there are many similarities between the crime lab
project and the courthouse initiative. He described the former as
an effective process, one with advantages for both the state and the
chosen developer — and even for the host community.
“In terms of working together with a private developer and the
state and the local community ... that has resulted in a pretty suc-
cessful outcome,” he told BusinessWest, referring to the crime lab.
“It can be a great partnership; it allows us to do what we do, and by
publishing a long-term lease, the state can use its credit to support
the construction of this facility without putting all the cost up front
and without committing its resources to the design and construc-
tion and procurement process, which I think we can a little more
efficiently than the state government.”
Irving agreed. “The state provided an opportunity to have a
40-year lease, and in my lifetime, I’ve never seen Massachusetts
offer a 40-year lease, which is pretty much the equivalent of a bond,”
he explained. “So, this is really well done because it makes this eas-
ily financeable, and it makes that financial modeling much easier,
and that’s why you have 11 proposals on the table; it’s an amazing
opportunity.”
And while there are certainly fewer risks for developers with a
project of this nature rather than building a spec office building or
renovating a tenanted office facility (where leases typically run five
to 10 years) given recent trends with remote work, there are still
risks, even with the state as a tenant and a 40-year lease.
“In the development world, there are three basic risks — the
leasing risk, the financing risk, and the construction risk,” Shee-
han noted. “If it’s a pre-leased facility, you’ve solved the first one,
and if you’re using the state’s credit, you’ve somewhat solved the
second one, but there’s still fluctuations in interest rates that cer-
tainly impact cost, so that’s a risk. And then, there are the construc-
tion risks — cost escalation, trade tariffs, labor rates, and general
“This is really well
done because it
makes this easily
financeable, and
it makes that
financial modeling
much easier, and
that’s why you
have 11 proposals
on the table;
it’s an amazing
opportunity.”
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