0 Bikes Make Life Better

Bikes make life betterBikes Make Life Better is an organization focused on just that. The vision is to integrate bikes into corporate culture to impact people, the planet and profitability. They do this through a combination of consulting, discounted product sales and ongoing operational support.

If your company is looking to roll out a program give them a shout and see if they can help you.

 

0 Vegan Restaurant to Open at 101 Seaport Blvd

Seaport restaurant

Credit: Boston Business Journal

New eats are coming to 101 Seaport Boulevard. This is not your traditional eatery, but rather vegan style with roots in NYC.

A BBJ article notes, “Chef Chloe Coscarelli — known for being the first vegan chef to win the Food Network’s popular reality show “Cupcake Wars” — and co-partner Samantha Wasser have plans to open a 48-seat restaurant at 101 Seaport Boulevard. The newly opened 17-story glass office is home to accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers.”

You can read more on the BBJ.

0 Government Center T station Reopens

The Government Center T Stop will welcome commuters and visitors after a two-year renovation.

Government Center T

Credit: Boston.com

“After sitting shuttered for two years for renovations, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s 17th busiest rapid transit station will open after a midday ribbon-cutting ceremony on March 21,” according to an article on Boston.com.

You can read the full article, here.

 

0 Boston Tech Firms Trumpet Amenities to Attract Top Talent

Cayan offices in Boston

Credit: BBJ

In the recruiting arena for tech jobs amenities is key. Nap rooms seem to be the latest amenity being added to the roster.

From the BBJ:

Cayan, a Boston-based payment technology company, has invested $8 million to renovate its offices at One Federal St. in Boston’s Financial District as well as the company’s office in the Northern Ireland capital of Belfast. CEO Henry Helgeson said the renovation was part of an effort to attract and retain top talent — particularly software engineers, which are in increasingly high demand in Boston’s uber-competitive tech world.

 

0 LEGO Education Opens HQ in Back Bay

new lego education building in Back Bay

Credit: B

Lego is amazing and I used it as a kid and my kids now use it. It has evolved in so many ways and I never figured I would work a few blocks for their office which is now located at 501 Boylston Street in Boston Back Bay.

LEGO Fun Facts:

  • There are about 62 LEGO bricks for every one of the world’s 6 billion inhabitants. Children around the world spend 5 billion hours a year playing with LEGO bricks.
  • LEGO bricks are available in 53 different colors.
  • 19 billion LEGO elements are produced every year. 2.16 million LEGO elements are molded every hour, or 36,000 per minute.
  • More than 400 billion LEGO bricks have been produced since 1949.
  • Two eight-stud LEGO bricks of the same color can be combined in 24 different ways. Three eight-stud bricks can be combined in 1,060 ways. There are more than 915 million combinations possible for six 2 x 4 LEGO bricks of the same color.
  • 7 LEGO sets are sold by retailers every second around the world.
  • The LEGO bricks sold in one year would circle the world 5 times.
  • 40 billion LEGO bricks stacked on top of one another would connect the earth with the moon.

 

0 100 Federal Street Adding Restaurant and Amenities

Boston Properties has plans and approvals to add retail amenities to 100 Federal Street in the Financial District.  100 Federal Street was built in 1971 and renovated in 1992.  The building consists of 1,323,000 rentable square feet in 40 stories with 205 parking spaces below grade.  Boston Properties purchased the building in October of 2014 for $877.76 per square foot.  The building only has availability on the 33rd floor of 20,095 square feet.

Rendering of redevelopment at 100 Federal Street

Credit: Curbed Boston

According to Curbed, the “commission just signed off on the plans, which include 8,500 square feet of retail, 500 square feet of kiosk space, and an 8,990-square-foot, street-level winter garden under plenty of glass.”

You can read more on the plans on Curbed’s Boston publication.

0 Mobile Banking (Trucks)?

mobile banking truck in Boston

Credit: BBJ

Your bank comes to you, no not via an App or the internet, but rather the roadways. This give a whole new meaning to mobile Banking. Look for this from East Boston Savings to service schools, nursing homes and perhaps areas of Boston’s CBD.

According to the BBJ:

East Boston Savings (Nasdaq: EBSB) has asked state regulators for permission to open a so-called mobile banking branch, essentially a bank on wheels, complete with a teller window, ATM, and space for two desks, not to mention security cameras and an alarm system. While mobile offices are relatively popular in other parts of the country, only one Massachusetts-based bank in recent memory, Century Bank, has applied for and received approval for a mobile banking unit, and it never put a vehicle on the road, according to the state Division of Banks…Assuming the itinerant office gets the government’s OK, Gavegnano wants to put the branch on the road as soon as May. Four clients have already committed to a weekly visit from the mobile branch, including a manufacturing facility, assisted living facility, and two high schools, and more customers have expressed interest, [East Boston Savings CEO] Gavegnano said.

The East Boston Savings branch will be staffed with two tellers and a full-time driver.

0 Prospective Developers Vying for Winthrop Square Location

Boston Winthrop Square

Credit: Curbed

These eight developers are jockeying for position for the Winthrop Square site in Boston:

  1. Millennium Partners
  2. Thomas O’Brien, a former director of the Boston Redevelopment Authority
  3. Accordia Partners
  4. Hudson Group North America
  5. Trinity Acquisitions
  6. The Fallon Company
  7. Steven Belkin of Trans National Properties
  8. Lincoln Property Co

For more information, Curbed Boston has a breakdown of all eight proposals.

 

0 Boston Among Top Hubs for International Investment

Boston skyline

Credt: Bisnow

Since I am from Boston, I am clearly biased in thinking that this is The Hub. Boston has a wonderful cross section of talent and disciplines that make our collective community diverse as we compete in the public theatre.

This also holds true in real-estate and investment activity, according to a report from real estate firm JLL, “which ranked Boston 14th in the world, and fourth in the U.S., in terms of international investment activity in the last three years, relative to its size.”

“JLL listed Boston among a number of small to medium-sized cities in the U.S., Europe, and Australia with strong infrastructure and talent-driven economies that have become popular with foreign capital, as prices have surged in the most expensive big markets. Those cities have doubled their share of global real estate investment over the last decade.”

You can read more on the Boston Globe.

0 Can Small Businesses Grow and Evolve in Co-Working Spaces

boston co-working office space

Credit: Bisnow

Yes, you can. The devil is in the details, and at some point when your head count gets above a certain level you will want to create your own company culture.

From Bisnow:

Over just the past couple of years, we’ve watched modern co-working become a multibillion-dollar industry, seemingly right under our noses. WeWork’s now valued well into the 11-digit range, and attempts to jump into the fray are everywhere, from in-house shared space provided by companies like Silverstein Properties, to small operations popping up outside of traditional office districts. But if part of the point of co-working spaces is to help small companies grow, what happens when they do?

The answer: they evolve and develop an internal culture to reflect its products and corporate values.