Needham software firm signs on at Seaport site

Needham engineering software maker PTC Inc. will relocate its global headquarters in early 2019 to Boston’s Seaport District, where it plans to house more than 1,000 employees in the top half of a new 17-story office building.

PTC signed a lease for an initial 248,911 square feet on nine floors at 121 Seaport Blvd. and eventually will add another 5,000 square feet. Its lease runs from January 2019 through June 2037, according to a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

PTC will join Amazon, General Electric, Red Hat, Reebok and Vertex Pharmaceuticals in moving or planning to move to the South Boston waterfront area.

The 32-year-old PTC specializes in the internet of things and augmented reality, and its technology is used primarily by manufacturers. It said it expects the Boston move to help it recruit and retain workers.

“It is clear that this region has the opportunity to yet again become a beacon of innovation in technologies as disruptive as the internet of things and augmented reality,” PTC CEO Jim Heppelmann said.

PTC is the first tenant at 121 Seaport Blvd., and it will occupy about two-thirds of the tower. Building owner Skanska USA Commercial billed its lease as the largest of the year in Boston.

PTC will pay a first-year base rent of $10.95 million and about $5.2 million in building operating costs and real estate taxes. It pays about $12million per year in base rent and operating charges under its current lease in Needham.

PTC hopes to sublease its Needham headquarters from 2019 to November 2022, and also may sublease up to two floors of the Seaport location, according to the regulatory filing.