More trucks through East Boston with new signed contract

East Bostonians should get use to more trucks and congestion along the Route 1A corridor on McClellan Highway because one of the year’s largest airfreight leases near Logan Airport has been signed.

Agility Global Integrated Logistics, a provider of supply chain solutions for technology, retail, chemicals, and other industries, has expanded its local presence with its recent lease of a 25,500 square foot space at 290 McClellan Highway.

The company had leased space for several years at the adjacent 310 McClellan Highway but the new home offers 5,000 square feet of office space, 27 cross-docks and 16’ clear height.

Agility, with its $6.8 billion in annual revenue with offices in 120 countries, operates an 8,000 vehicle fleet. The company has been chosen to handle logistics for the Commonwealth Games in Delhi later this year and the London Olympic Games in 2012.

The location is one of the closest airfreight facilities to Logan International Airport and is minutes from downtown Boston and major highways.

The announcement was made by Richard McKinnon, Director of Brokerage Services for The Grossman Companies, Inc., of Quincy (Mass.), who negotiated the lease, and is the Exclusive Broker for the Landlord, 310 McClellan Highway LLC. The tenant was represented by Paul Delaney of Grubb & Ellis.

Agility’s former space at 310 McClellan Highway, 16,175 square feet, is now available and is also represented by McKinnon. The property includes 4,000 square feet of office space, 13 tailboards, a drive-in ramp and 18’ clear height.

This transaction has slipped under the noses of most watchdog groups in the neighborhood that are usually on top of huge airfreight developments along McClellan Highway.

Back in 2004, U.S. Congressman Michael Capuano (D-East Boston) said the former owner of 175 McClellan Hwy., Berkeley Investments’ efforts to attract Logan Airport related business to that location in Eastie would further burden the neighborhood’s streets with freight forwarding truck traffic.

Capuano was urged to weigh in after residents made it know that they had opposed the plan.

“I’m totally opposed to any development that would draw more traffic to local streets,” said Capuano in 2004. “There are so many more valuable uses for this site other than freight forwarding or other Logan related uses.”

Recently Capuano has earmarked $5 million in the U.S. House’s version of the Transportation Bond Bill for the construction of a by-pass road in Eastie that would reroute the daily gridlock of eighteen-wheelers and other airport traffic away from of Day Square and Neptune Road.

This has been followed up by legislation by Senator Anthony Petruccelli to have Massport flip the bill for the rest of the road’s construction.

Eastie activists have long argued that without a bypass road, adding more freight-forwarding businesses dependent on Logan for survival along McClellan Highway would have an adverse impact on the health and safety of the neighborhood.

Historically airport-related trucks have had to depend heavily on either McClellan Highway or side streets to access Logan, inevitable adding more airport traffic to the neighborhood’s already congested roadways.

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