0 Boston Residents can Monitor City’s Development Projects

Posted on January 28, 2015 by Wil Catlin

What is going on over there? That is one question that gets asked time and time again about commercial developments in Boston. Looking to track the Hub’s developments? Now there is an App for that.

According to the BBJ, “Boston residents will be able to track local projects, find meeting times, and submit online feedback through a new online forum hosted on Boston’s Department of Neighborhood Development website and at CoUrbanize.com. The move, the city said, would increase transparency in the development process for city-owned land and city-funded housing developments…The city of Boston is using the CoUrbanize platform to catalogue information about city-owned land and buildings available for development, in addition to collecting information about affordable housing developments in which the city has an investment.”

The full article is available on the Boston vertical of the BizJournals website: BizJournals.com/Boston.

0 Newbury Street Real Estate Goes in ‘Hub Buying Spree’

Posted on January 28, 2015 by Wil Catlin

Credit: The Real Reporter

Urban Meritage closes on another piece of Newbury Street real estate by adding 50,000 rentable square feet.

From The Real Reporter:

Bringing its CRE holdings secured here to 11 properties in just 21 months, the partnership of Urban Meritage and Novaya Ventures (UMNV) has taken a giant step forth in purchasing the hulking six-story 126 Newbury St. from its longtime New York owner in an eye-popping $54.2 million deal consummated earlier today. Rudin Management’s trade brings UMNV’s portfolio of assets focused along the famed shopping boulevard to nearly $150 million, blowing past the $100 million level in one fell swoop and giving the firm three prime buildings between Berkeley and Exeter Streets, the latest on the third block up from the Boston Public Garden and next to the second block where UMNV began its platform via the $10.0 million.

0 Faneuil Hall Renovation Detailed

Posted on January 28, 2015 by Wil Catlin

Credit: BostInno

Faneuil Hall is looking to make some changes. A 180 room hotel, freshened up food court and a shake up of existing tenants.

From Bostinno.Streetwise:

The updates to Quincy Market, which include the new retailers, the hotel and more developments, are all part of Ashkenazy’s plan to make Faneuil Hall more attractive to those living in Boston…we also learned that Faneuil’s notorious brick walkways could be repaved with smooth granite, with benches replaced by movable chairs, drastically changing the marketplace’s familiar and historical facade – but making it easier to walk, especially for those in heels.

Past coverage of the impending changes in Faneuil Hall have filtered in from both the Boston Globe(in September) and the New York Times (in early December). While today’s City Council meeting was held in regards to the impact on pushcart vendors in Faneuil Hall, the conversation focused on the many alterations slated for the marketplace. The redevelopment is in its early stages, and some of the proposed changes would require the BRA’s Article 80 review.

0 Boston Tops US in CMBS Loans

Posted on January 28, 2015 by Wil Catlin

745 Boylston Street office building in Boston

Office Building at 745 Boylston Street in Copley Sq.

Boston leads New York, D.C., Chicago and L.A. not only in the bid for the 2024 Olympics, but also for CMBS loans.

The Boston Business Journal is reporting the “percentage of Boston-area commercial mortgage backed security real estate loans with late payments is its lowest in months and is among the best in the country, according to new data from real estate information provider Trepp,,,According to Trepp, 2.84 percent of Boston-area CMBS loans were 30 days delinquent or more as of the end of November. A year ago, the rate was 4.02 percent. The decline has been more or less steady, with slight increases a few months…The Boston-area compares especially well with other major U.S markets.

You can find more information on the BBJ’s website.

0 Silicon Valley Takes Note of Boston Innovation

Posted on January 28, 2015 by Wil Catlin

cover of startup pub that touts Boston as an innovation hub

Credit: BBJ

Not only do we in Boston believe that we have a flurry of startup activity, other across the country believe so as well.

Here’s a quote from the BBJ that represents this perspective on the Hub:

“At almost every tech event I’ve been to in 2014, everyone ranging from entrepreneurs and investors to politicians has talked about the booming innovation scene in Boston, and how Boston needs to tout its successes.”

The complete Boston Business Journal article is available, here.

0 LogMeIn Adds Seaport Office Space

Posted on January 28, 2015 by Wil Catlin

Credit: BBJ

LogMeIn expands in the Seaport.

The BBJ is reporting that LogMeIn “plans to add 450 jobs during the next five years with the help of about $2.5 million in tax breaks from the city. It could begin housing the first crop of new employees at a 100,000-square-foot space at 333 Summer St. in early 2016…It recently struck a tentative agreement with the landlord to take over the vacant space across from its headquarters at 320 Summer St., where the company currently employs 400.”

You can find additional information on the move on the Boston Business Journal.

0 Pier 4: Class A Office Space Overlooking Boston Harbor

Posted on January 23, 2015 by Wil Catlin

Credit: CPexecutive

The owners of 1 Federal Street and 125 High Street in Boston are expanding their Boston Footprint. Pier 4 will be their new project that will consist of 350,000 RSF of Class A office space overlooking Boston Harbor.

According to CPexecutive, “Tishman Speyer, a global developer and owner of assets like Rockefeller Center and the Chrysler Center in New York, said it expects to seek LEED gold certification for the project.”

You can read more about the Pier 4 Project on the CPexecutive website.

0 Kendall Square Office Rents Reach Record Level

Posted on January 19, 2015 by Wil Catlin

Four Cambridge Center

With the boost of office rents in East Cambridge, Downtown Crossing has become the new hotbed for Redline creative and tech companies with Class B rents still in the $30’s PSF.

The Boston Globe is reporting “Office rents in Kendall Square have hit an all-time high of almost $67 per square foot, breaking a record last set in 2001, according to the real estate brokerage Transwestern RBJ…Transwestern said the average asking rent on a top-tier office space in East Cambridge set a new record of $66.63 in the final quarter of 2014, edging out the previous record of $65.85 set in 2001. East Cambridge’s vacancy rate of 6.7 percent was lower than many parts of Boston’s central business district, but higher than those of the smaller office markets of South Station, North Station, and Longwood, whose vacancy rates ranged from 2 to 4.4 percent.”

Additional insight on the East Cambridge boom is available on the Boston Globe.

Office availability and neighborhood information for Downtown Crossing and Kendall Square are available on the following submarket pages:
Downtown Crossing offices
Kendall Square office space

0 Boston Financial District Lands new Soup Restaurant

Posted on January 19, 2015 by Wil Catlin

Looking for a free lunch? Stop by the newest eatery in the Financial District at 185 Franklin Street on Wednesday January 21st from noon to 2 PM.

Soup Spot in Boston's financial district

Credit: Bostinno.Streetwise

From Bostinno.Streetwise:

For those unfamiliar with Hale and Hearty Soups, the chain has numerous locations throughout Manhattan, Long Island and Brooklyn, New York. The restaurant serves up several “everyday soups” as well as a variety of rotating “daily specials.” In addition to soup, Hale and Hearty also offers sandwiches, salads and sweets. Take a peek at their menu, here.

0 Recounting the Transformation of Fenway

Posted on January 19, 2015 by Wil Catlin

Vision, patience and persistence have given Steven Samuels high marks in the real estate community with his transformation for the Fenway.

Credit: Boston Magazine

Boston Magazine put together an editorial that tracks Samuels’s personal development along with that of Fenway. Here’s an excerpt:

But the Verb and the new Fenway also tell a story about how to amass power in the most elegant of ways. Since acquiring his first Fenway properties more than 14 years ago, Samuels has united the neighborhood’s middle-class residents with top-tier financiers and the city’s notoriously fickle bureaucracy to arrive at a workable vision of what this dump of a place could become.

The full editorial is available on BostonMagazine.