SouthField, the mixed-use development growing on the grounds of the former South Weymouth Naval Air Station, has landed its first commercial tenant: Deja View Concepts, a three-year-old software company currently in Hingham.
LStar Management, which owns the 1,400-acre former air base, plans a $15 million to $20 million renovation that will transform 65,000 square feet in an old hangar into offices, according to the company’s New England division president, Matthew Barry.
Deja View Concepts will occupy about 30,000 square feet on the top floor and expects to employ about 30 people, Barry said. He would not disclose what the company will pay in rent.
The offices will overlook an open, 40,000-square-foot section of the hangar that already has been retrofitted for moviemaking, and will be next to the old runway where two Hollywood films about the Boston Marathon bombing are currently in production.
Barry said the renovation should be finished by late 2017, and would be “perfect for incubator space, and for firms that want to be associated with a really fun business’’ like movie-making.
“We’re really excited about Deja View’s decision to come to SouthField,’’ he added. “It’s an important validation’’ of LStar’s plans.
The developer’s plans call for spending at least $1 billion on a mini-city of 3,900 housing units, many in a commercial “town center,’’ coupled with millions of square feet of office space filled with tech and pharma firms that would be at home in Cambridge’s Kendall Square. The grand design also includes a 10,000-seat stadium, a hockey rink, and miles of walking trails.
The North Carolina-based company specializing in turning around failed developments bought the SouthField site in May 2015 for an undisclosed amount of cash. It has been focused on getting adequate water and sewer to the property, and work is underway on more housing and recreation amenities.
SouthField also has created buzz by landing Hollywood movies, including the “Ghostbusters’’ reboot, scheduled for release in July with a mostly female cast. The two films in production now — Mark Wahlberg’s “Patriots Day’’ and Jake Gyllenhaal’s “Stronger’’ — have built replicas of Boston’s Boylston Street to re-create the events of the Marathon bombing.
Deja View Concepts recently put out a press release saying it had hired Pembroke resident Winthrop Sargent as its chief financial officer to “bring the company to the next level’’ and raise $5 million in working capital.
The company, now on Station Street in Hingham, was started by Jeffrey Gabriel and uses video software and smartphone apps to build systems that track and capture high-definition video and stills of consumers in entertainment and retail venues.
Johanna Seltz can be reached at seltzjohanna@gmail.com.
