North Andover property manager announces deals with three facilities;
Combining workforce agencies under one roof to benefit center users, job-seekers

Lawrence, Mass., Jan. 01, 2009 – Ozzy Properties, a premier property manager located in North Andover, announced that it has renewed leases with two workforce-related agencies and signed a fresh lease with another organization at its beautifully renovated Heritage Place facility in Lawrence, enabling professionals and job-seekers alike to benefit from the consolidated location.

The lease signings were hailed as a success on many fronts, particularly in light of the fact that the commercial real estate market continues to slump in the recession. However, Heritage Place, a 300,000-square-foot building housing nearly three dozen tenants, is substantially leased.

The City of Lawrence’s Department of Training and Development and the Valleyworks Career Center, both tenants since 2002, renewed their leases. The Merrimack Valley Workforce Investment Board, previously located on Island Street in Lawrence, moved to the new site in December. The lease agreement extends for five years and the three agencies occupy 18,760 square feet of first class office and training space.

Fred Carberry, director of the Workforce Investment Board, which is the oversight entity for the Valleyworks Career Center, is pleased with the new location. “Relocating to Heritage Place has improved our level of communication with Valleyworks,” said Carberry. “We’re always looking for ways to save time and money and this new location gives us the opportunity to share resources that we were previously unable to achieve. The consolidation improves the functionality of the entire system.”

Arthur Chilingirian, executive director of the Valleyworks Career Center, lauded Ozzy’s Heritage Place facility for its location, access to public transportation and proximity to major highways. “This facility enables us to centralize our activities, which is a benefit to both the organizations and officials we deal with as well as job seekers using the center’s resources,” said Chilingirian.

The career center, which occupies about 17,000 square feet, has provided nearly 9,000 job seekers during the past six months with access to resources such as computers, copiers, telephones and other research materials. “This is a spacious and efficient resource for job seekers,” noted Chilingirian.

Orit Goldstein, President of Ozzy Properties, said that the three organizations reviewed other potential building sites before ultimately signing leases with Ozzy.

“We’re very pleased that three important agencies agreed to sign leases with Ozzy Properties,” said Goldstein. “The Valleyworks Career Center, the Workforce Investment Board and the city of Lawrence’s Department of Training and Development are critical agencies making a significant impact on people’s lives and we’re proud to have them at Heritage Place.”

Heritage Place is a 300,000 square foot commercial facility located one half mile north of Andover’s Shawsheen Square, in South Lawrence, MA and right off I-495’s exit 41.  Enjoying our new ownership and a comprehensive renovation, this facility is once again home to many of the economic engines of the Merrimack Valley.

The lease signing follows other significant announcements by Ozzy Properties during the past year. Last fall, Ozzy announced a lease with Fire Pro Incorporated at its Osgood Landing facility in North Andover. And last summer, Ozzy Properties earned the distinction of having the largest privately owned solar array in Massachusetts installed on Osgood’s Landing roof.

Osgood Landing, an office and manufacturing complex made up of nearly 2 million square feet, was formerly occupied by Lucent Technologies. Ozzy Properties acquired the half-century-old building in 2003 and is in the process of reconfiguring it for multi-tenant use.