0 Apple Leases Additional Office Space in Cambridge

Posted on January 19, 2015 by Wil Catlin

One Broadway in Cambridge MA

Apple is expanding Siri in Cambridge by securing 11,500 RSF at One Broadway.

According to an article on CultofMac.com, “documents filed with local authorities show that the company has leased around 11,500 square feet of office space on the 13th floor of One Broadway, an office tower owned by MIT and located on the outer perimeter of the university’s campus in Cambridge, MA,” in an effort to expand its Siri team.

You can read the entire article the CultofMac website.

0 Back Bay Retail Development Boost Ahead

Posted on January 19, 2015 by Wil Catlin

Retail is getting a makeover in Back Bay. Boston Properties will making some major announcements as it pertains to their new building 888 Boylston Street and the neighboring retail spaces.

From Women’s Wear Daily:

The Shops at the Prudential Center are about to get a major overhaul complements of Boston Properties…Executives there declined to name any of the incoming tenants just yet, but vowed to identify the retailer that has been secured for a nearly 9,000-square-foot space in the mall in the next few months.

The Pru’s food atrium is [also] said to be getting a serious makeover and Boston Properties reportedly will build a grand-scale new building for office space, luxury condos and retail nearby at 888 Boylston Street near Gucci’s current location. As reported, the first Primark store will bow in Boston later this year at Downtown Crossing as part of the multi-million dollar Millenium Tower and Burnham Building development project. Millenium Partners plans to build a 60-story glass tower near where the original Filene’s once stood.

0 Boston Development Remains Strong into 2015

Posted on January 19, 2015 by Wil Catlin

In 2014 Boston benefited from some significant growth and 2015 looks to be more of the same.

The Boston Business Journal posted some numbers to illustrate Boston’s 2014 development:

$4 billion worth of new construction will have broken ground by Dec. 31, up 16.4 percent from the year before.
7.5 million square feet of total space will have been added.
12,000 construction jobs were supported this year.
3,859 housing units are under construction, on track to meet a target of 53,000 units by 2030.

One of the many contributing areas to the boom is the Boston Innovation District.

0 Rents Continue to Climb for Downtown Boston Office Tenants

Posted on January 19, 2015 by Wil Catlin

Credit: B&T

The recent trades on the Class A and B will provide the fuel for increased rent growth for 2015 as new owners justify their investment. Rent concessions and tenant improvement dollars will move the opposite direction.

“Rents in Boston’s Downtown Crossing have risen from $25 to $35 per square foot in the last two years, with growing demand from tech tenants…for tenants looking for pockets of value, good deals remain in the low-rise floors of Financial District buildings, where vacancies remain in the mid-teens and rents average in the low $40 range,” according to a quote from Joseph Sciolla, managing principal at CresaPartners Boston on Banker&Tradesman.

You can read the full article on the B&T website.

0 Boston Office Vacancies Reach 14-year low

Posted on January 19, 2015 by Wil Catlin

Credit: wbjournal

The Boston Office market continues to price upward while pushing vacancies to levels not seen since 2001.

WBjournal reported on a study conducted by Transwestern, a commercial real estate management firm, citing “in the fourth quarter, the region’s office market closed the year at a 12.8-percent vacancy rate. For the year, 3.6 million square feet of office space was absorbed, marking the area’s seventh consecutive quarter of positive absorption.”

The WBjournal offers an additional details on Boston’s vacancy rate.

0 Tech Initiatives Set for Boston

Posted on January 19, 2015 by Wil Catlin

Credit: BBJ

Looking to use your smartphone to pay for parking in Boston? Thank the Mayor, who pushed a new app out the doors of city hall and launched in as a pilot in Back Bay. It was one of the Mayor’s six technology-centric initiatives announced recently. The full six tech initiatives are the following:

1.    Boston drivers can now feed their meters with a mobile app.
2.    Boston’s new partnership with SAP.
3.    The creation of “StartHub.”
4.    Leveraging big data.
5.    The unveiling of a “startup czar” position.
6.    New 3-1-1 upgrades.

You can read more on each of Mayor Walsh’s tech initiatives for Boston on the BizJournals website.

0 Downtown Boston Office Market Expanding Steadily

Posted on January 19, 2015 by Wil Catlin

Credit: B&T

Downtown Boston is the largest concentration North of New York City and is in the midst of strong rent growth across the Class A and B segments. Today’s technology and creative services companies are looking for easy access to public transportation combined with an open floor plan.

From Banker & Tradesman:

For the third straight year in 2014, the Greater Boston office market recorded more than 2 million square feet of positive absorption, in a steady expansion that boosted occupancy rates at properties ranging from suburban office parks to converted warehouses and downtown high-rises.

“There’s more office product than ever and it’s getting filled in a much more dense way than ever before,” said Brendan Carroll, vice president of research for Avison Young. “If you’re wondering why the T seems more packed, or why you can’t get a cab to take you across the (Fort Point) Channel, that seems to be the reason.”

0 Back Bay Project Progressing

Posted on January 19, 2015 by Wil Catlin

rendering of proposed renovations at Back Bay station in Boston

Rendering courtesy of the Boston Globe

Boylston Street in Back Bay is closer to adding a new address for a $330 million mixed use project. This is known as Parcel 13, which is on the North East side of Mass. Ave. & Boylston Street.

From The Boston Globe:

Peebles Corp. was chosen over two rival bidders to develop Parcel 13, a rectangle of state-owned air rights at the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Boylston Street that stretches over the Massachusetts Turnpike. Peebles now needs to win both state and city approvals to move ahead with the project…The proposed development, designed by Handel Architects of New York and about a block long, would include a 156-room hotel, 88 condominiums, 138 parking spaces, community areas, and 26,000 square feet of retail space. The building’s footprint would stretch from Mass. Ave. to Dillon’s Restaurant & Bar on Boylston Street and would feature a distinctive squiggle shape.

0 Key Boston Office Developments in 2014

Posted on January 18, 2015 by Wil Catlin

Credit: Bisnow

Our city continues to grow and change as evident by the following six projects in 2014. Bisnow selected its six transformative developments from 2014, noting “projects underway in 2014 brought amazing change, reviving tired districts and bringing new ones into the heart of the metro area.” It’s standouts are the following:

• Vertex Pharmaceuticals
• VanNess
• Troy Boston
• New Balance in Brighton Landing
• One Dalton
• Partners Healthcare

0 Boston Office Rents Stay Among Country’s Highest in 2015

Posted on January 18, 2015 by Wil Catlin

Credit: Boston Business Journal

Boston Office rents are some of the most expensive nationally and expected to continue upward during 2015. Vacancy in the city has continued downward with value options within the low rise Class A and Class B in the Financial District.

“The vacancy rate in Boston at the end of the fourth quarter was 13.4 percent, the seventh-lowest rate in the country among the roughly 75 markets Reis examined…The national average was 16.7 percent. Average Boston rents rose 0.2 percentage points during the fourth quarter. Most of the cities saw a small decline. Average rent in Boston at the end of the fourth quarter was $32.42 per square foot — fourth highest in the country,” according to stats presented on the Boston Business Journal.

The full BBJ article can be found, here.