JLL Arranges $62.5M Financing for Wheelock Street Capital and Camber Development's Advanced Manufacturing Campus in Bedford, Massachusetts
JLL Capital Markets has arranged $62.5 million in financing for 44 Middlesex Turnpike, a 23.4-acre advanced manufacturing campus in Bedford, Massachusetts, the firm announced Aug. 31, 2026. The loan was secured on behalf of a joint venture between Wheelock Street Capital and Camber Development, with Blue Light Capital serving as the lender.
Deal Structure and Campus Overview
The financing covers a two-phase campus consisting of a newly completed, Class A, 148,458-square-foot advanced manufacturing facility and an adjacent 12.3-acre pad-ready development site entitled for an additional 147,000 square feet. When the second phase is complete, the campus will total approximately 295,000 square feet of advanced manufacturing space. The first building delivered at the end of 2024 and is currently 32% leased.
The tenant in the first building is Fourth Power, an energy sustainability and grid resilience company commercializing a long-duration thermal energy storage system that originated from MIT, where the company's founder is a professor. Fourth Power is backed by Munich Re Ventures, DCVC, and Breakthrough Energy Ventures, the climate-focused investment fund associated with Bill Gates. Fourth Power occupies approximately 47,500 square feet at the property.
Blue Light Capital, founded by Michael Tepedino, is a joint venture among Jeremy Burton, Greg Manocherian, Pan Am Equities, and an institutional partner with more than $300 billion of assets under management. The firm has deployed $300 million of capital since inception and targets bridge loans and note acquisitions in the $25 million to $75 million range across asset classes nationwide.
Property Specifications and Location
44 Middlesex Turnpike was purpose-built to serve advanced manufacturing users and features specifications that distinguish it from older converted flex industrial buildings in the region. The facility offers clear heights ranging from 36 feet to 40 feet in high-bay areas, 20-foot clear heights in flexible mezzanine space, 40-foot by 40-foot column spacing, and six loading docks per building. The campus is designed to deliver 8,600 amps of power per building, totaling 17,200 amps across both phases. A reinforced roof structure accommodates rooftop mechanical systems, providing flexibility for tenants requiring specialized buildouts.
The property sits along Middlesex Turnpike with immediate access to Route 3 and connects to Interstate 95 within five minutes. Downtown Boston is approximately 20 minutes away. The site is within a 30-minute drive of roughly 500,000 people and within a 60-minute commute of more than 2.1 million people, providing access to both engineering and R&D talent in the Boston suburbs and a manufacturing workforce concentrated north of Boston through southern New Hampshire.
The campus is also in proximity to MIT's Lincoln Laboratory, which conducts advanced technology research and development for national security applications, and the MIT Bates Laboratory, a research facility associated with MIT's Laboratory for Nuclear Science.
Sponsors: Wheelock Street Capital and Camber Development
Wheelock Street Capital was formed in 2008 by Rick Kleeman and Jonathan Paul, two real estate private equity investors each with more than 30 years of experience across major asset classes. The firm has raised approximately $6 billion in capital commitments from institutional investors and is currently raising its eighth value-added fund, Wheelock Street Real Estate Fund VIII, alongside a perpetual life core-plus vehicle, the Wheelock Street Long Term Value Fund.
Camber Development is a Boston-based real estate investor and operator focused on the advanced manufacturing, logistics, and life science sectors. The firm operates a portfolio of 3 million square feet across 14 industrial properties in Greater Boston.
JLL Team and Market Context
The JLL Capital Markets team was led by Senior Managing Directors Brett Paulsrud and Steve Klein, Director Ryan Parker, Vice President Hugh Doherty, and Analyst Libby Horton.
"The joint venture between Wheelock Street Capital and Camber Development created a differentiated product that addresses the growing demand from companies in robotics, energy storage, semiconductor and climate technology sectors," Paulsrud said. "The property's location in Bedford provides optimal access to both the engineering talent concentrated in the Boston suburbs and the manufacturing workforce throughout the North Market."
Bedford and the surrounding North Market have emerged as a primary hub for advanced manufacturing in Greater Boston, driven by the area's connectivity to Cambridge and its inventory of high-powered buildings. The Greater Boston market has seen significant growth in advanced manufacturing tenant demand over the past 12 months, fueled by venture capital investment in sectors including physical AI and robotics, aerospace and defense, energy storage and climate technology, semiconductor development, 3D printing, medical devices, and biomanufacturing. Massachusetts ranks second nationally in advanced manufacturing investments since 2020 and first in per capita investment.