BEVERLY, MA– Dunham Ridge, the North Shore’s newest business campus, is preparing for a homecoming. Harmonic Drive LLC, which launched in Beverly nearly 60 years ago before moving to Peabody, has purchased nearly five acres of land at the burgeoning technology center owned by Cummings Properties. Site work has already begun for a fully permitted 100,000-square-foot high-tech manufacturing facility.
“Harmonic Drive had been looking for a new location for our US headquarters and manufacturing facility for quite some time,” said Harmonic Drive CEO Olson. “Since our employees are key to the strength and growth of our business, we wanted to stay very close to the North Shore, where many of our employees live.”
Originally a division of United Shoe Machinery Corporation, Harmonic Drive designs and manufactures motion control products, including precision servo actuators, gearheads, and gear component sets. Its technology is used primarily in robotics and semiconductor manufacturing, but has also been used on the International Space Station, Mars Explorer Rovers, and even the Lunar Rover that was driven on the moon in 1971.
Harmonic Drive has outgrown the two buildings it currently occupies in Peabody. The move to Dunham Ridge will allow it to consolidate its functions into one building and expand its footprint to accommodate growth. The firm plans to add approximately 60 full-time employees to its current staff of 142 within the next couple of years, according to Olson.
“Given Harmonic Drive’s impressive growth, its record of success and innovation, and its historical ties to Beverly, we could not be more pleased to welcome this firm back home,” said Steve Drohosky, vice president of Cummings Properties, who worked directly with Olson on the sale.
Harmonic Drive is aiming to have the building’s shell weathertight by the end of this year so construction crews can work on the interior buildout during the winter. Longstanding Beverly firm Connolly Brothers is serving as general contractor for the project, which is slated for completion in summer 2019.
“From the beginning, Steve and his team from Cummings really listened to our needs and understood our requirements as a manufacturing business. They worked with us to find the right land where we could build a world-class facility,” said Olson. “We were ecstatic when they recommend Dunham Ridge in Beverly, since we were founded there over 50 years ago. We are very much looking forward to coming back home to Beverly and strengthening our ties with the community.”
Dunham Ridge is currently anchored by medi-tech firm Microline Surgical, which leases 67,000 square feet at 50 Dunham Ridge, the 54-acre site’s original building. Other tech clients at the campus include drug safety firm spmd and GreenBananaSEO.
Cummings Properties is currently constructing two additional mixed-use buildings of about 150,000-square-feet each at Dunham Ridge and is offering two more land parcels for sale there.
“With multiple high-tech occupants, a prime location right on Route 128, and the opportunity for build-to-suit facilities, Dunham Ridge has begun making a name for itself as a desirable campus for research and technology firms,” said Drohosky.
Harmonic Drive LLC engineers and manufactures precision Harmonic Drive® servo actuators, gearheads and gear component sets. They work with industry-leading customers and companies of all sizes to provide both standard product and custom-engineered servo actuators, gearheads and gear components. Harmonic Drive LLC provides high precision, high performance solutions to meet customer’s mission critical application requirements. The majority of the products sold by HDLLC are proudly made at their US headquarters and manufacturing facility in Massachusetts. Affiliated companies in, Japan (Harmonic Drive Systems, Inc.) and Germany (Harmonic Drive AG) provide additional manufacturing capabilities.
