MassMutual plans new office on waterfront
Springfield-based insurance company MassMutual is closing some of its offices around the country and consolidating in Massachusetts, investing nearly $300 million to renovate its headquarters and build new offices on the South Boston waterfront.
“Our home state of Massachusetts is the best place for us to grow and thrive over the long term,” said Roger Crandall, chief executive of MassMutual. “As we evolve, a stronger Boston presence immerses us in a booming financial and digital economy and provides us with an enhanced opportunity to recruit innovators from the area’s deep and diverse talent pool.”
Massachusetts has agreed to give the life insurance company $46 million in tax incentives in exchange for adding 2,000 jobs in the state. At least some of those jobs will come at the expense of other states, including Connecticut and New Jersey, where existing offices will close.
“It’s always great when a Massachusetts company brings the jobs home,” said Jay Ash, state secretary of economic development. “We will be able to recoup our investment relatively quickly.”
MassMutual said its two biggest offices — in Springfield and Enfield, Conn. — have been at about 60 percent capacity. As part of the expansion, the Springfield headquarters will be renovated. Staff at its headquarters will increase about 50 percent, the company said, with MassMutual’s Massachusetts head count increasing 70 percent.
In Boston, MassMutual will build a new office on Fan Pier near the federal courthouse. The company said the more-than 300,000-square-foot building will cost about $240 million to build. MassMutual originally bought the land as a potential investment opportunity.
Offices in Connecticut, Tennessee, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and New Jersey will close. The company will keep offices in New York City and Phoenix.
Mayor Martin J. Walsh said, “The fact that the company is bringing workforce from New Jersey and Connecticut to Boston, it’s big for our city, it’s big for our state. It adds to the diversity of our city, it adds to who we are as a city, it adds to our industry.”
MassMutual said the Boston office will eventually hold about 1,000 employees. Boston officials said they expect the office to include executive offices, though the company’s headquarters will remain in Springfield. Neither Boston nor Springfield is offering local tax incentives.
