Grape expectations: What’s next for Welch’s former HQ?

Its new Waltham digs are bustling. Back in Acton, Welch’s longtime home sits silent.

One year after the company announced plans to relocate its headquarters, spokesperson Jen DeAngelis said Welch’s has made the switch official. Employees moved June 2, and Welch’s will wrap up its Acton lease on July 31.

What’s next for the fruit firm’s old offices is an open question.

“That’s a bummer for Acton,” said Julie Flynn while meeting her mother after a doctor’s appointment at 300 Baker Avenue, which Welch’s shared with a dozen other tenants. 

Welch’s settled in the home of the namesake Acton grape in the 1980s. When news of its impending exit broke last summer, local officials said the departure was a loss for the town.

Company decals still marked office doors and the Welch’s logo still hung on the Acton building after the company held a Waltham ribbon cutting.

‘Pretty dated’

A spokesperson for Welch’s local landlord said Taurus Investment Holdings was “actively marketing” the office for lease as of late June. 

While Welch’s is out, the spokesperson said a small vineyard dedicated to the Acton grape’s creator — Ephraim Wales Bull — will remain.

Real estate expert Cassidy Norton forecasted that the office space “probably will hang out for a while.” 

Norton is the associate publisher and media relations director for The Warren Group, a Peabody-based real estate market analysis firm. She said the shift to remote work during the pandemic shuffled the market. 

While some industries still need space, others are shrinking their footprints, and Norton said Acton isn’t a prime spot for employers who might otherwise replace Welch’s. 

“I don’t know who wants to commute on Route 2,” she said. “I don’t.” 

Norton said large office parks like those on Baker Avenue are also “pretty dated” and aren’t attractive to people who want to work near restaurants and other amenities. 

As they seek tenants, Norton said Taurus might consider dicing its space into smaller, more marketable units. 

“If your company doesn’t have a lot of people commuting in, it doesn’t necessarily matter where [the office] is,” she said. “You just need somewhere to get your mail and store your computers.”

Office space backlog

A proposed pedestrian bridge would link Baker Avenue to West Acton businesses. But designs won’t be finished until 2028, according to a recent presentation.

Select Board Chair Mark Howell hopes a Route 2 redesign will help better link the area to new businesses at the former Papa Razzi property and the soon-to-be-redeveloped MCI-Acton prison land. 

In the meantime, Howell said the town has other vacant office space and isn’t sure how long it will take to clear the backlog.

With other medical offices already in the area, he floated health care as one possible Welch’s reuse. 

“I’d love to see people in the business community come forward with some new ideas for that,” he said.