Polaroid Sells Land Holdings in Cambridge

The Polaroid Corporation, a longtime Cambridge resident with its world headquarters about a mile from Harvard Square, announced Wednesday that it had sold $35.7 million in Memorial Drive office space, and that it plans to sell the rest of its Cambridge landholdings soon.

The company, famous for its instant photographic technology developed by Edwin H. Land, Class of 1930, has accumulated debt in recent years amidst competition from new digital cameras. Last week’s property sales are part of a commitment to reduce the company’s debt by $150 million.

According to Polaroid spokesperson Herbert N. “Skip” Colcord, the company had meant to sell the buildings, which he termed an “investment property” and which are still under construction, even before the company’s debt began to increase. They were never intended for use by Polaroid.

“Part of our overall real estate strategy is to sell off property where we feel the market situation is right to realize a profit on it,” Colcord said.

The buildings, which will total 99,300 square feet when finished, are designed for office and research space. Colcord identified the buyer only as “an investor” who wished to remain anonymous.

However, Colcord did say he expected the offices would further “the overall potential for research and development in this area.”

Wall Street investors seemed pleased last week with the revenue Polaroid earned from the sale. The price of the company’s stock momentarily peaked at 5.85 early Thursday, the day after the sale announcement, before dropping back to 4.60 at closing time Friday.

Last week’s sales are part of a recent effort by Polaroid to cut the company’s operating costs. In addition to job cuts-the company laid off 950 workers, or 11 percent of its global workforce, in February-the company is also trying to streamline its office space holdings around the state.

“Polaroid is taking a look at every single one of its facilities in the state of Massachusetts and studying what is the best alternative,” Colcord said.

The effects of that cost-cutting effort seem to have reached even the Polaroid headquarters. Once located in Technology Square near MIT, the offices moved to the company’s historic Memorial Drive building—a mile or so from Harvard Square—in 1998.

But in fact, Polaroid does not even own that space anymore. Several years ago it sold the building to The Bulfinch Companies, Inc., a Needham-based real estate investment firm, in another cost-cutting move. Polaroid now rents the space from Bulfinch.

Once Polaroid sells a 2.1-acre residential parcel adjacent to the property sold last week, the company will no longer own any property in Cambridge.

—Staff writer Elliott W. Balch can be reached at balch@fas.harvard.edu.