Monthly Archives: January 2017

0 Robots and Engineers Gain Space in Boston

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Channel Street Robotic Space Boston

Credit: Boston Globe

Robots and their creators will soon have a new space in Boston to work their magic and create the next task-oriented machine. MassRobotics, a Boston based nonprofit, has leased about 15,000 on Channel Street in the Seaport and will be opening on February 9th. The facility will house about 30 companies.

According to a Boston Globe editorial, most companies occupying the space “will have fewer than 15 employees, and will have access to office space, laboratory benches, and communal equipment like computer-controlled lathes, 3-D printers, and laser cutters. The equipment will enable companies to produce their own parts and prototypes on-site, Ryden says.” The article also notes that although “the building MassRobotics will occupy is owned by the City of Boston, Ryden said that the money for the space came from corporate sponsors, rather than the city or the state. There’s room for an eventual expansion to another floor, Ryden said, but that would require additional funding. ‘We already know that we’re going to outgrow this initial space.’”

You can read more on the Boston Globe, here.

0 Tremont Crossing Gains Approval

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Rendering of TRemont crossing office building

Credit: Boston Business Journal

Tremont Crossing continues with its march towards becoming a reality.

From the BBJ:

Tremont Crossing will feature 1.2 million square feet of rentable space, as well as a 1,370-space parking garage, bringing the project’s gross square footage to 1.7 million square feet. The approved project includes:

  • 300,000 square feet of “destination/entertainment” retail along the second and third levels
  • 100,000 square feet of smaller retail/restaurants along the first level
  • 108,000 square feet of office
  • 718 apartments split among two buildings, totaling 645,000 square feet
  • nine townhouse-style apartments along Whittier Street, totaling 9,400 square feet
  • 31,000-square-foot National Center of Afro-American Artists museum
  • 500,000-square-foot parking garage with 1,371 parking spaces
  • large public plaza with public art, outdoor dining, weekly events and food trucks

 

0 Amazon is Looking for Office Space in Boston

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Amazon delivery boxes

Credit: Boston Globe

Amazon has 19 options to look at that have between 100,000 – 200,000 square feet of available space — now or in the near future — from East Cambridge to the Seaport and the Financial District to Back Bay.

As of today the availabilities would be in the following buildings:

  • 1 Beacon St
  • 200 Berkeley St
  • 222 Berkeley St
  • 399 Boylston St
  • 105 Broadway
  • 1 Center Plz
  • 200 Clarendon St
  • 1 Copley Pl
  • 2 Copley Pl
  • 26 Court St
  • 21-25 Drydock Ave
  • 101 Federal St
  • 110 High St
  • 125 High St
  • 100 Northern Ave
  • 53 State St
  • 253 Summer St
  • 645 Summer St

From the Boston Globe:

Amazon already has a large and growing presence in Kendall Square, but is eying downtown Boston in part because it has cheaper rents and more available space than in nearby Cambridge. It would also join a string of tech companies that have set up shop downtown, helping to reinvent the traditional business district as a hub for a new industry.

“Downtown Boston already has tremendous street cred in the tech world,” said Brendan Carroll, head of Encompass Real Estate Strategy, which tracks Boston’s office market. “But Amazon moving in would be a really big thing.”

0 Boston Office Trends: Seaport, Kendall Sq. and Back Bay Near pre-2008 Crash

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Franklin Street office space in Boston

Image Credit: Boston Globe

The value option in Boston office leasing, the Financial District, holds the single largest concentration of office space and workers. Submarkets like the Seaport, Kendall Square, and Back Bay are pushing numbers in excess of the pre-2008 crash.

From the Boston Globe:

Data from the Boston office of Colliers International show that vacancy rates for the upper reaches of buildings in the Financial District — floors 20 and above — are at their highest in nearly a decade. And as a whole, the Financial District lost more tenants per square foot in 2016 than any other area in the city, ending up with nearly 850,000 more square feet of vacant space than in 2015…The Seaport District remains the new “it” address, with companies leasing an additional 400,000 feet of office space in 2016.

0 Winthrop Square Skyscraper Faces Size Reduction

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From flight paths to shadows, Winthrop Square continues to make headlines as the newest proposed tower in the Boston Financial District. Some speculate that the tower height will be reduced by 4 – 6 stories to lessen the impact.

Winthrop square office tower in Boston

Credit: Boston Globe

According to the Boston Globe, “A tower that tall, a Massport official wrote, would interfere with operations at Logan, blocking a popular takeoff corridor and probably leading to more noisy air traffic over Boston’s northern and western suburbs. Massport would object to anything taller than 710 feet on the site, which sits about two miles west of the airport.” The globe article continued, noting “cutting the tower by 65 feet would lop four or five stories off the 60-story tower, probably not a deal-killer for a project estimated to cost $1 billion. But that could reduce the city’s payday. Under Millennium’s deal with the BPDA, $50.8 million of the $152.8 million purchase price is tied to the sale of condos in the tower.”

For more information, jump over to read the full Globe article.

0 Boston: The Footwear Capital

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Converse office space in Boston

Credit: The Daily Astorian

The roster of footwear brands with a headquarters or significant presence in Boston is vast and celebrated:

  • Converse
  • Reebok
  • New Balance
  • Converse
  • Wolverine
  • Saucony
  • Keds
  • Sperry
  • Rockport
  • Clarks
  • Puma

From The Daily Astorian:

“These companies cluster because they’re primarily looking for talent. You want to be where the people are,” said Matthew Powell, a sports industry analyst for the NPD Group, a New York-based market research firm. “They’re also trying to stay close to their consumer. Millennials are clustering in large cities, so it’s a great way to be plugged into where your consumer is.”

The moves also affirm New England – historically the nation’s footwear-making region – remains a viable center of the industry, said Nate Herman, a senior vice president at the American Apparel & Footwear Association trade group.

0 Bulfinch Crossing Development Has Commenced

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Demolition has commenced for HYM’s Bullfinch Crossing project with completion scheduled for September 1st 2019.

Bulfinch Crossing map

Credit: Bldup

From Bldup:

Bulfinch Crossing is a 2.9 million square foot multi-phased development project that will replace the existing above-grade concrete Government Center Garage with a pedestrian-friendly streetscape, a public plaza and six mixed-use buildings on two appropriately-scaled urban blocks spread across approximately 4.8 acres. The demolition of a major portion of the garage over Congress Street will allow for daylight to shine on Congress Street for the first time in more than 40 years.

When fully built, there will be…1.15 million gross square feet of office space and 82,500 gross square feet of retail space at Bulfinch Crossing.

More information on the project is available on BulfinchCrossing.com.

0 Seven Significant Boston Real Estate Projects slated for 2017

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Boston real estate projects planned for 2017

Credit: Curbed

Seven new projects are scheduled to break ground in ’17 in Boston. Fears of a slowdown are not adopted by developers of Boston real estate.

Curbed, Boston outlines the 7 new projects slated for this year. Six of the properties are located in the Greater Boston area and one in Watertown, MA:

Boston

  • 171 Tremont Street
  • 700 Atlantic Ave
  • A St & Necco Ct
  • 660 Summer St
  • Dorchester Ave & Hancock St
  • Commonwealth Avenue & Brookline Ave

Watertown

  • 485 Arsenal St

0 Green Office Buildings Improve Productivity and Quality of Sleep

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Tired working in office conference room

Credit: BBJ

When considering your new office building studies show that a “green” building leads to workers scoring higher cognitively. The Massachusetts RMV building is Roxbury closed by the Weld administration due to “sick building syndrome” and had to relocate 600 workers.

From Highbeam:

Workers in certified “green” buildings score 26.4 percent higher on cognitive function tests, when compared with workers at the same companies who happen to work in a non-certified building, according to a new study out from Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health.

The green-building workers also had sleep scores that were 6.4 percent higher than their coworkers in non-green buildings. The study controlled for job category, education and salary.

 

0 Back Bay Towers over Mass Turnpike at ‘1000 Boylston’

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The air rights over the Turnpike might soon see the way forward for two new Back Bay Towers. The current plan for both buildings is residential with street-level retail.

rendering of office towers at 1000 Boylston

Credit: Curbed

According Curbed’s Boston vertical, “the whole affair hinges on building a 23,000-square-foot platform over the Turnpike…On that podium would go a six- to seven-story base for both towers. That base would contain 33,000 square feet of retail, amenities, and lobbies as well as 303 parking spaces.”

Additional info on 1000 Boylston is available on Curbed.