0 Boston Software Startup picks Fenway over Kendall Square

Posted on October 28, 2015 by Wil Catlin

Office space at 1330 Boylston Street in Boston

The office market for growing companies appears to be expanding beyond traditional office markets such as Back Bay, Seaport and Financial District to Fenway. This is due to Samuels & Associates offering what companies want and need; cool creative space without a long term lease. New formed and funded companies are in most cases unable to make long term lease commitments, Hatch Fenway is designed to bright that gap between shared space and direct space.

One example of this is documented on the BBJ:

Software startup Appcues has moved from Cambridge to a 2,100-square-foot office at Hatch Fenway, the startup space created by real estate developerSamuels & Associates this summer…the company started out in WeWork co-working space before moving to 300 square feet at 25 First St. in Cambridge. Late last year, the company raised $1.2 million in seed funding from Atlas Ventures and other investors…The company needed space to grow and had looked all over: Downtown Crossing, the Leather District, Kendall Square, Lechmere, Cambridge, the Seaport’s Innovation District. But Kendall Square has become “so office park-y,” Kim said.

“We like getting out of the office and going to interesting places,” he said. “The Fenway just has such a diverse array of restaurants, a movie theater right downstairs. Everything is convenient.”

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0 ‘Jewel Box’ Building at 15 Broad Street goes up for Sale

Posted on October 28, 2015 by Wil Catlin

15 Broad Street in Boston Financial District

Credit: Pinterest

Trades continue to take place in the Class B office sector with 15 Broad Street coming to market.

From The Real Reporter:

“the 73,500-sf “jewel box” building that is 100 percent occupied and has a cachet one observer terms “exceptional,” so much so that market estimates are putting the anticipated price range for an exchange around $475 per sf, which if accurate would be in the range of $35 million…As to pricing prospects, the concept of a deal around $475 per sf is bolstered by a similarly sized trade of another nearby asset in May when JLL delivered its client $479 per sf on the sale of One Milk St. to Midwood Investment and the $438 per sf Capital Properties paid to ELV Associates via Cushman & Wakefield a month before that for 66 Long Wharf, a 77,600-sf waterfront building blocks from Broad Street that carried a capitalization rate of 5.0 percent. “I could see that,” one downtown specialist says when asked if 15 Broad St. could even eclipse that $34.0 million outcome. The industry veteran looks more to the building itself for that conclusion, citing its proven appeal to small- and medium-size companies who have 15 Broad St. filled to the rafters with leases ranging from under 1,000 sf to a 14,300-sf pact involving the top two floors that runs to March 2024.”

0 Two Office Buildings in Newton and Watertown Net $16.9M from KS Partners

Posted on October 28, 2015 by Wil Catlin

Credit: The Real Reporter

KS Partners continues to expand its portfolio inside 128 with the acquisitions of buildings in Newton and Watertown. Boston Realty Advisors’ suburban team of Adam Meixner, Jeremy Freid, Doug Adamian and Tyler Griffin is looking forward to working with KS Partners on filling the remaining vacancies. The team is expecting to see quite a few tenants being priced out of the Kendall Square submarket in Cambridge and looking for more affordable options just west in Watertown and Newton.

From The Real Reporter:

“What we see happening there is very dramatic,” says [Davis Cos. CEO] Jonathan Davis. “Watertown in general and the Arsenal Street area in particular have been an underappreciated sweet spot for a very long time that is going to only get better in the next five to 10 years . . . It really feels like this wave of activity is here to stay; this is not a temporary trend.”

Real Reporter first announced Davis Cos. had both 101 Walnut St. and two Waltham buildings under agreement in August, the latter purchase a separate pact negotiated by HFF involving 303,000 sf at 1025 and 1075 Main St. which were acquired from Gramercy Capital for $52.5 million. Davis calculates the former Baybanks headquarters now occupied by Bank of America was purchased for half its replacement cost and has badly needed space available in one of suburban Boston’s top business addresses while being close to the city center that has an expanding menu of LWP elements plus a commuter rail connecting to Boston. “We’ve got a quality property with good cash flow and 80,000 square feet to lease in a strong market, so we are very excited by this purchase,” says Davis.

0 New Financial District Eatery: Serafina

Posted on October 28, 2015 by Wil Catlin

Serafina restaurant in Boston Financial District

Credit: Boston Globe

10 High Street in Boston’s Financial District is home to a new eatery, Serafina. Fresh, modern Italian cooking.

At a glance, courtesy of the Boston Globe:

What
Some 30 black-and-white stills from Federico Fellini films, placed throughout the Financial District Italian restaurant.

Whose idea
Restaurant designer Petra Hausberger of Brookline’s Somerton Park Interiors wanted to festoon Serafina with shots from Fellini movies like “La Dolce Vita” and “8½” because they would “engulf the space in fantasy and glamour.” Helpfully, a close friend is an archivist at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in LA. Hausberger was sent digital copies of the stills, many of which feature actress Anita Ekberg.

Contact
10 High St.
Financial District, Boston
617-426-1234
Serafinaboston.com

0 Tesla Store Coming to Boylston Street in Boston

Posted on October 27, 2015 by Wil Catlin

Credit: BBJ

Boylston Street continues its technology leadership role with anchor stores from Apple, Verizon, AT&T, Microsoft to its newest Tesla Motors. Tesla will be one of the newest addition to the Shops at Prudential in Boston’s Back Bay. The Prudential complex consists of:

800 Boylston Street
101 Huntington Avenue
111 Huntington Avenue
888 Boylston Street

A BBJ article, covering the announcement of a Back Bay Tesla store, notes the following:

“We are excited to have a larger presence in Boston,” said a Tesla spokeswoman in an email, adding the store would host an “opening event” in the next several weeks. She declined to discuss any other other details of the retail store. Tesla already has two stores in Massachusetts, one in Natick and one in Dedham. The company also has a service center in Watertown. A company spokesman recently told the Boston Herald that it has plans to open more stores in Massachusetts over the next two years.

0 Two-Year Investment Yields $18.7M Profit in Fort Point

Posted on October 27, 2015 by Wil Catlin

Credit: Banker and Tradesman

Assets continue to trade in the Seaport section of Boston red hot office market just over $400 per foot.

According to Banker and Tradesman, “the Davis Cos. has sold its Tower Point office building in Boston’s Fort Point for $62.1 million, reaping an $18.7 million gain after just two years of ownership…The Boston-based developer spent nearly $7 million updating the 155,170-square-foot property at 27 Wormwood St., increasing the occupancy rate from 74 to 95 percent with a group of new tech tenants…Renovations to the 115-year-old structure included a 7,500-square-foot courtyard with oversized chess set outside the main entrance, removal of drop ceilings and creation of an open floor plan for most tenants.”

Additional details are included on B&T.

0 Rent Boston Office Space by the Month

Posted on October 27, 2015 by Wil Catlin

LiquidSpace

Office space in major markets is now available on an hour, daily or monthly plan. If you’re a startup, pick your market and pick your plan.

From Globest:

LiquidSpace has launched monthly rentals, enabling those startups and growing teams to rent a primary office space by the month. Monthly space is available in San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, Orange County and Boston, with plans to roll out monthly office space across the global LiquidSpace network by the end of 2015. LiquidSpace has had its sights on expanding into monthly space for a while, but it considered how to accomplish that in a way that improves on the traditional approach while also extending a new, flexible option for building owners to monetize the excess space.

Mark Gilbreath, founder and CEO of LiquidSpace, tells GlobeSt.com: “We’ve definitely struck a chord with both building owners and occupiers who have vacant space to share. Millions of square feet of small, high quality office spaces sit idle, robbing owners of potential revenue and asset value growth. Now for the first time, there is a simple and cost-effective way to monetize these 500- to 5000-square- foot spaces, by connecting directly to growing startups and corporate occupiers with satellite teams.”

LiquidSpace allows landlords and tenants to list space online on an hourly, daily or monthly basis, with LiquidSpace taking a 10% cut of monthly rents, providing differing rates for daily and hourly leases. The LiquidSpace network allows space providers to create and manage custom profiles as well as communicate directly with growing companies and manage all aspects of a transaction.

0 Best Meeting Spots Outside of the Office

Posted on October 27, 2015 by Wil Catlin

Credit: BetaBoston

The best discussions never take in a formal setting. Where do you get your best deals done?

A BetaBoston article recently spurred the topic, noting the following scene:

“Most cities would kill for a meeting place as magical as the open brick courtyard behind the Charles Hotel. It’s a simple enough spot: benches and planters, a portal leading to Harvard Square, and two restaurants with patios, Legal Seafoods and Henrietta’s Table. But it’s the place where fast-growing startups like Recorded Future, which helps businesses anticipate cyberattacks, and Formlabs, which makes a 3D printer, first connected with investors. The travel site Kayak was born over a lunch at Legal’s, the two founders agreeing to put in a million bucks each and toasting with gin and tonics. In the spring of 2004, two Harvard undergrads, Eduardo Saverin and Mark Zuckerberg, ate breakfast at an outdoor table at Henrietta’s and talked to a junior venture capitalist about their month-old startup, Thefacebook. His Waltham firm, Battery Ventures, passed.”

0 Office Space in the Greater Boston Suburbs is Heating Up

Posted on October 27, 2015 by Wil Catlin

office space available in Boston suburbs

Credit: B&T

Is Boston office space getting too expensive with vacancy rates just above 8 percent? Class A Boston assets are trading nearly double pre-recession levels while suburban comparable assets are still trading 23 percent below the pre-recession levels.

According to a post from Banker&Tradesman, “with fewer Boston trophy properties in play this year, investors may bid up demand in top-tier suburban markets…Properties in suburban core markets such as Route 128, Route 9 and Watertown are selling for just 21 percent above the 2006-2007 peak. Properties in all other Boston suburban markets are selling for 23 percent below the peak.”

Additional details are available on Banker and Tradesman.

0 Back Bay Station Air Quality Fixes Prove Costly

Posted on October 13, 2015 by Wil Catlin

The cost of clean air is very expensive, but totally worth it.

According to an article on Banker & Tradesman, “The repairs could climb from $800,000 to $6 million…The MBTA commissioned Westwood-based Hatch Mott MacDonald to study the decades-old ventilation system as part of a $32-million station renovation project being led by developer Boston Properties. For years, diesel exhaust from commuter rail locomotives has lingered on station platforms and filtered up to the concourse…MassDOT spokesman Jason Johnson said the MBTA will adopt the report’s recommendation of creating a modeling assessment that would include detailed engineering. The model is expected to be completed by the end of winter.”

You can read additional information on the air quality assessment of Back Bay station on the B&T website.

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