April 29, 2025
Who are you and what is your business?
My name is Mary Carroll, and I am a senior account manager at Cummings Properties. As a longtime Gloucester resident, and a 14-year member of Cummings’ Beverly team, I am happy to act as a point of contact for other members of the Cape Ann business community looking to connect with Cummings.
Cummings Properties builds and operates commercial real estate in 11 communities north and west of Boston. Founded in 1970, the Company employs a team of more than 360 individuals who together lease, manage, and maintain 11 million square feet of office, lab, medical, manufacturing, retail, and industrial space.
A staff of 100 oversees the firm’s 2.7 million-square-foot Beverly portfolio, which includes Cummings Center and Dunham Ridge—two expansive business, science, and technology campuses—as well as luxury condominiums at Elliott Landing and (coming this year) 50 Balch Street.
Please provide a brief description of your company.
Cummings Properties manages and maintains a diverse portfolio of suburban commercial real estate. The firm has in-house expertise in a variety of disciplines, including all the construction trades, plus architecture, engineering, sales, and purchasing, and can meet virtually any space requirement. Cummings offers one-stop-shopping for more than 2,000 leasing clients across industries, including corporate headquarters, medical offices, light manufacturing, research laboratories, amenity providers, and more.
What inspired you to start your business, and what keeps you going?
A lifelong entrepreneur, Bill Cummings launched Cummings Properties in 1970. He has found it incredibly rewarding to build not only buildings but also successful business communities like those at Cummings Center and Dunham Ridge.
Among the chief highlights of the Company’s history are its activities in and around Beverly, starting with the 1996 acquisition of the defunct former United Shoe Machinery headquarters and the subsequent top-to-bottom restoration that transformed the site into an award-winning business campus. Today, all who visit Cummings Center receive an education on the Shoe’s historical significance through the artifacts, images, and informational placards on display throughout the buildings and grounds.
What aspect of your business are you most passionate about? (history, conversation pieces, etc.)
Cummings is, at its base, a community-building organization. We look to stimulate economic growth in the communities where we operate by revitalizing and developing commercial buildings, attracting new businesses to the area, and supporting the continued development of the new and existing business community. In Beverly, for example, Cummings’ 2012 purchase of 50 Dunham Road, the former Parker Brothers world headquarters, culminated in the erection of a thriving 54-acre business, science, and technology campus directly abutting Route 128. Dunham’s modern, energy-efficient buildings, mix of turnkey and build-to-suit space, and considerable value over facilities in more urban areas continue to draw innovative science and technology firms to the greater Cape Ann region.
Is there something unique about your business that you’d like to share that most people wouldn’t know about?
The other side of the Company’s community-building mission is its All Profits to Nonprofits model. Cummings awards more than $30 million dollars in funding annually—nearly $600 million to date—to greater Boston nonprofits. Businesses that lease space with Cummings feel good knowing that 100 percent of all rental profits from its real estate portfolio goes to hundreds of community nonprofits.
Through this model, Cummings leasing clients have contributed to substantial commitments in and around the North Shore, including a $20 million award to Endicott College for nursing and health sciences education, $10 million to Salem State University to reinforce the local educator pipeline, and hundreds of others through the annual Cummings $30 Million Grant Program.
Details about All Profits to Nonprofits and the Company’s affiliate, Cummings Foundation, are available at cummings.com/givingback.
What sets your business apart from other similar businesses?
Cummings Properties is unusual in its ability to offer one-stop shopping for the entire leasing process. Our fully integrated leasing, property management, design, construction, financing, and purchasing teams work together to meet the needs of each client firm in an efficient, cost-effective manner. Relying on in-house architects, engineers, and construction crews from start to finish allows us to save on unnecessary expenses (by cutting out middlemen) and remain nimble when changes are necessary, all of which enables us to rapidly deliver expertly customized space for virtually any industry or need.
Because Cummings operates its 11 million-square-foot portfolio debt free, the Company is incredibly stable and able to build on spec even during economic downturns. Our business campuses are intentionally situated in amenity-rich, highway-accessible suburban locations with ample free parking, and our full-service leases typically include snow removal, utilities, maintenance, building insurance, and base-year real estate taxes.
Do you have a goal you want the business to achieve in the next one, 5, or 10 years?
Our continued organizational mission is to amplify our impact as a force for good in local economies and communities throughout the region. The northern suburbs provide a particularly rich landscape of science and tech industry professionals. We hope to continue to partner with these innovative founders and entrepreneurs, together promoting individual business success and overall industry growth in an area that employs so many residents of Cape Ann and greater Gloucester.
Why do you love the Greater Cape Ann region and doing business locally?
Cummings is a regional organization that has stood the test of time by building, hiring, giving, and living locally. Greater Cape Ann combines the allure of natural beauty with a robust business community and a people known for their entrepreneurial spirit.
As someone doing business in this area, how has or how can the Chamber help your business?
Our shared goal of promoting local industry makes our partnerships with the Chamber both critical and fruitful. We recognize the value of bringing together professionals and exploring and lending support to the issues that affect businesses of all sizes in the greater Cape Ann region.
Contact Info
Cummings Properties
100 Cummings Center, Suite 107-L
Beverly, MA 01915
(978) 720-4015
cummings.com
mcc@cummings.com
Social Media
