Putnam Investments To Open Major Corporate Campus In Norwood-This Day In Norwood History-June 22, 1998

Mutual Fund Giant Acquires 89 Acres From Polaroid Corp. In $30 Million Campus Transformation

Putnam Investments’ plan to buy and refurbish a 231,000-square-foot Polaroid Corp. building is expected to bring about 2,000 workers to Norwood, but it’s unclear how many will be transferred from the company’s offices in Quincy and Braintree. Boston-based Putnam Investments last month signed an agreement to buy 89 acres of land from Polaroid Corp., including the 1 Upland Road building and a former Forbes family mansion on the property. Putnam Investments will lease the 25-year-old building to Polaroid Corp. until next April, then convert it from manufacturing to office space, said Putnam spokeswoman Nancy Fisher.

Norwood Town Planner Steve Costello said the land purchase, building renovation, and a possible 100,000-square-foot expansion will cost an estimated $30 million. Putnam Investments plans to add an additional 900 parking spaces to the 1,200 there now. Fisher would not say how many Putnam workers will occupy the site, but Norwood town and economic development officials said they expect 2,000 employees will eventually work there. Putnam employees will move to the one-story building in phases starting next year, Fisher said. The mutual fund company does not yet know how many of those employees will be new hires or transferees from other locations, including Quincy and Braintree, Fisher said.

Putnam Investments has about 1,250 employees in mutual fund service operations in Quincy and Braintree, and others in Franklin and Andover. “It’s clear that the Norwood facility will be for service positions,” Fisher said. Putnam Investments’ investment management and sales and marketing operations will remain in Boston. The firm had considered expanding into the Crown Colony office park in Quincy, but it dropped that plan in 1996 because of a lack of parking.

Polaroid Corp., which is consolidating operations, has only 150 employees remaining in the Norwood building. Those workers will move to other Polaroid buildings, said Polaroid spokeswoman Nancy Childs. Polaroid Corp. will retain about 100 acres of the property and three buildings that now house between 800 and 1,000 workers. Childs said the Cambridge-based camera company had initially planned to convert the 1 Upland Road building from manufacturing to office space for its own uses. Polaroid Corp. is vacating several buildings in Cambridge as its leases expire next year. “Putnam came along with an offer that was unexpected,” she said. “It was something good enough that we felt we should take it and make other arrangements for our employees.” Terms of the sale were not disclosed.

“It’s excellent for the community,” said Neponset Valley Chamber of Commerce President David Mahn. “Putnam has a great reputation.” Polaroid Corp. has used the 22,000-square-foot former Forbes family mansion on the wooded property as a corporate training center. Mahn said the estate was once owned by a U.S. ambassador to the Philippines.

Archival Note: This article has been dynamically reconstructed from the original public record print archives of the Patriot Ledger