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Burlington's Economic Development Office convened civic leaders and local experts on Wednesday for the town's first-ever Economic Development Summit. While the conversation featured a high concentration of commercial real estate buzzwords, the implications of today's changing business landscape will impact all Burlington taxpayers. The future remains uncertain, but panelists think Burlington is well-positioned to soften the impact.

Hosted by Burlington Economic Development Director Melisa Tintocalis, this two-hour event provided an opportunity for major players in Burlington's business landscape to share their perception of the opportunities and challenges facing the town's commercial office market in the coming years, and for invested residents to ask their questions in order to better understand how bodies like Town Meeting and the Planning Board – as well as town administration and other civic leaders – might fit into the conversation.

Michael O'Leary from Cushman and Wakefield Commercial Real Estate Services kicked off the discussion with an overview of Burlington's placement within the greater Boston area commercial office space real estate market. Burlington holds 6.4 million square feet of the area's 25-million-square-foot total, second only to Waltham's 10.3 million. The vacancy rate in Burlington is now at 16.9%, lower than the overall Central 128 market (21.2%) and Greater Boston (24.5%).

O'Leary warned that 2026 has gotten off to a slow start, with demand stabilized rather than growing. But looking further ahead, he expressed cautious optimism — forecasting that leasing velocity in 2027-2029 should match or exceed 2025's strong performance, driven by the cyclical nature of lease expirations.

Chris Steele of EBP US and Crosby Nordblom of the Nordblom Company (a local development firm) shared their insights on the process of site selection. "Every location decision is going to be a solution to a business problem," said Steele, and both he and Nordblom emphasized that companies' decisions on where to locate are very individual.

What really matters to businesses, said Sandi Silk, Executive Vice President for Real Estate at MassDevelopment, is the availability of amenities nearby. Is there housing? Are there entertainment and dining options? Those are the questions businesses will want answers to before making the decision to locate somewhere.

Rick Parker, President of the Burlington Area Chamber of Commerce, agreed, adding that businesses talk about how easy it is to do business in a particular municipality. "There's a relationship in the hospitality industry," he said. "They ask each other, hey, we're thinking of going into Burlington, what was your experience? Reputation is huge." He added that transportation and housing are areas where Burlington still has work to do.

Both are areas the town has worked to address – notably, the Mall Road Mixed Use zoning and the Town Center Middle Housing overlay aim to encourage more housing in the town's commercial districts. No housing has been permitted through these mechanisms, though the state's 2021 MBTA Communities Act was invoked to permit a multifamily development on Middlesex Turnpike where two mid-century office buildings currently stand.

This kind of development may become more common, as many older office buildings don't lend themselves well to today's current office or residential needs, said Silk. A question was raised by Planning Board Member Barbara L'Heureux, however, about the tax implications of replacing office buildings with housing. Burlington's split tax rate means businesses pay higher taxes than residential properties, which means a lower tax rate once an office building is converted to a residence.

It's a question without a clear answer. However, taxes are is a central tension in the evolving business landscape, especially here in Burlington where the commercial, industrial, and personal property (CIP) taxes make up nearly two-thirds of the town's tax levy. This split has benefitted residents, who enjoy the second-lowest taxes among bordering towns while also enjoying many services at no cost – including trash and recycling pickup, athletics, and school bus service.

The fact that the town is leaning into this conversation, said Parker and O'Leary, is a step in the right direction. Burlington has an opportunity now, panelists agreed, to look ahead to what Burlington can offer businesses rather than romanticizing bygone days.

This isn't the first time Burlington has faced a changing world, said Parker, and it won't be the last. "I think it's great that we're in this building tonight," he said, referencing the historic Grandview Farm. "A long time ago people met here, pig farmers, and they said, 'The U.S. Highway Department is connecting all the states. We're going to have this [Route] 128 coming through Burlington. How are we going to protect our industry here? Because they're going to have big farms out in the central part of this of the country and be able to get [food] out here." Similarly, the town foresaw the tech boom and made it possible for Burlington to become home to some world-class technology businesses.

O'Leary said one of the area's greatest assets is the access to "intellectual capital" – in other words, smart and capable people who can build up the business landscape. Nordblom pointed out that with all the changes in focus over the last several decades, "intellectual centers" remained an essential part of the formula. The work now is to envision what those intellectual centers will look like in the coming years.

Now is the time, said Silk, to start thinking about where leaders want to see Burlington ten years from now. "I would say being open minded is the number one value you should bring, because it enables the conversation to be explorative. And that's how you're going to get to being the best place to do business in 2036."

The town plans to hold other events to address different economic areas of interest; stay tuned to Burlington Buzz for more information on what's to come.

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