0 Boston vs. NY – Commercial Real Estate Edition: Battle for Aetna

Posted on June 17, 2017 by Wil Catlin

Credit: BBJ

It appears the exodus from Connecticut continues as speculation swirls around Aetna’s search for a new home. Perhaps it is best summed up as a Yankees Red Sox battling in a pennant race and time will tell what city will be victorious. Boston will continue to attract world class companies of all sizes and the talented individuals who will be employed by them.

From Bizjournals.com:

“We are in negotiations with several states regarding a headquarters relocation, with the goal of broadening our access to innovation and the talent that will fill knowledge economy-type positions,” Aetna said in a statement on Wednesday.

The city of Boston in July 2015 had named Aetna a “top target” following proposed tax-law changes in Connecticut, according to emails obtained by the Boston Business Journal in a public-information request.

0 Fort Point Pedestrian Bridge to be Restored by GE

Posted on June 17, 2017 by Wil Catlin

Credit: Boston Globe

GE unveils a glimpse of our industrial past with renderings to the new pedestrian bridge at their new world headquarters in Boston’s Seaport. The new bridge will be used as four separate lounges and quiet working spaces for GE employees.

From the Boston Globe:

Consistent with its historical design, GE expects to keep a green wall on the east side of the bridge. But the bridge’s west side, facing downtown, would look quite different. The windowless facade, currently shielded by corrugated metal, would be replaced with banks of tall windows. The interior — oddly shaped at 40 feet long by 7 feet wide — is to be used as four separate lounges and quiet working spaces for GE employees.

The bridge was once an important link between buildings in the old New England Confectionery Co. complex. But it has long since outlived its original function. It now extends between one of two old brick buildings that GE will occupy and another former Necco building, currently owned by Synergy Investments. The Synergy-owned office building will remain walled off from the GE bridge.

0 Multi-Dimensional Seaport Office Building Billed as a ‘Game-Changer’

Posted on June 11, 2017 by Wil Catlin

Multi-dimensional commercial building in Seaport Boston

Credit: Boston Business Journal

Innovative architecture is proposed for the Seaport section of Boston curtesy of WS Development and their architect OMA based out of the Netherlands.

88 Seaport will feature 18 floors with nearly 425,000 square feet of office space, approximately 60,000 square feet of retail on the first two floors, and 5,000 square feet of civic/cultural use space. The building design features a unique series of cascading exterior terraces and a grand architectural gesture towards Fan Pier Green and the water’s edge.

From Bizjournals.com:

Yanni Tsipis, senior vice president with WS Development, told the Business Journal on Tuesday that the proposed design of the 88 Seaport Blvd. office is a game-changer for Seaport architecture. Shohei Shigematsu, a partner with Dutch architecture firm OMA, conceived the design for 88 Seaport, the firm said.

“It’s exciting to engage with the innovation migration to the Seaport District, and work with WS Development on a building positioned to be the nexus between historic Fort Point and the emerging waterfront developments,” Shigematsu said in a statement. “Our design for 88 Seaport slices the building into two volumes, creating distinct responses for each urban scale of old and new, while also accommodating diverse office typologies for diverse industries with demands for traditional and alternative floorplates. The slice also generates an opportunity to draw in the district’s public domains, linking the waterfront and Fan Pier Green with a continuous landscape.”

0 The Davis Company Moves on Major Seaport Developments

Posted on June 11, 2017 by Wil Catlin

Rendering of modern seaport office complex

Credit: Bisnow

The Davis Company has big plans for the Seaport area of Boston, which includes the construction of the Seaport’s largest hotel to date, along with the renovation of a 376-square-feet of industrial space in the heart of Boston’s most bustling commercial submarket.

From Bisnow:

“Our goal is to help continue the transformation of South Boston’s waterfront district, as there has already been significant development over the last several years,” Omni Hotels & Resorts CEO Jim Caldwell said.

The Omni project is not the only development the company has underway in the neighborhood. Davis announced in April a return to a stretch of the Seaport it famously revived before the rest of the neighborhood began its current building boom.

“The Seaport, and in particular the Raymond L. Flynn Marine Park area, is arguably becoming Boston’s most innovative research and development cluster,” Davis Cos. founder and CEO Jonathan Davis said.

0 Street Parking Rate Increase Across Boston Seaport

Posted on June 10, 2017 by Wil Catlin

Credit: BBJ

One way to limit cars in the Seaport is to increase the cost to park them. The Seaport hourly rate will see a 25% increase for street parking, and I can only imagine the next rate change will be for surface lots and garages.

“Starting June 5, 20 percent of the total hours that meters cover in the neighborhood will have their maximum rates increase from $2 to $2.50 per hour, according to the city. Meter pricing in the Seaport will now range from $1 to $2.50 per hour,” noted a recent BBJ article.

You can real the full article on the Boston Business Journal, here.

0 Is Modern Office Space Too Open?

Posted on June 9, 2017 by Wil Catlin

Modern office in Boston with Open floor plan

Credit: Bisnow

Can modern office space be too open? Is this a problem plaguing today’s office space in Boston? Some say “yes,” and are migrating towards more private office space design.

According to a recent Bisnow article, “the open office model, which was originally designed to improve collaboration, created other issues, including increased stress on employees, who struggle to focus, and high demand on support spaces, especially conference rooms.”

You can read the full article, here.

0 Stuart Street Motor Mart Garage Redevelopment Considered

Posted on May 16, 2017 by Wil Catlin

Credit: BBJ

The Motor Mart Garage as we know it might be different in years to come. In 1927, when it was built, it stood as the largest parking garaging in the world; now that title is held by West Edmonton Mall in Alberta, Canada, with parking for 20,000 vehicles.

Speculation appears to support that structure as we know it won’t go through a complete demo, but might be changed significantly.

From the Boston Business Journal:

Sources say possibilities for the garage’s redevelopment include building on top of the existing seven-story structure or tearing it down completely. Another possibility would be a partial demolition, threading a new building through the garage while leaving portions of it intact.

Beyond the 1,037 parking spaces, the Motor Mart Garage also houses 50,000 square feet of retail space, including Legal Sea Foods, Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse and Maggiano’s Little Italy. The garage spans a full block and is bounded by Park Place, Stuart Street, Church Street, Columbus Avenue and Eliot Street.

0 Self-driving Boats Could Soon Cruise through Boston Harbor

Posted on May 10, 2017 by Wil Catlin

Will self-driving boats on Boston Harbor relieve some of the Uber traffic on our city streets? We might soon be looking to a nine-person company in East Boston for those answers.

Credit: BBJ

A recent BBJ article notes, “Sea Machines Robotics Inc., which was named a Gold-level winner of last year’s MassChallenge accelerator program and recently graduated from TechStars Boston, has raised $1.5 million to support beta tests of its marine self-driving system…[the company] is about to begin testing its system, which uses software and readily available hardware to turn existing boats into autonomous vehicles, with two companies in the U.S. and one in Denmark. The companies in the pilot program focus on cleaning up oil spills and the surveying necessary to keep nautical charts up to date.”

You can read the full Boston Business Journal article on its website.

0 Boston Harbor Cruises repositions itself as water shuttle

Posted on May 10, 2017 by Wil Catlin

Image CreditL Boston Magazine

It doesn’t depend whether you are a regular in Boston or a tourist, getting around can be time consuming. Boston Harbor Cruises is positioning themselves to enhance their service offering by adding more water shuttle and taxi services throughout Boston Harbor. Most notably from North Station to the Seaport.

A lyrical snapshot from Boston Magazine describes the company, noting “Boston Harbor Cruises was founded in 1926, with a single boat rented by a West Ender named Matty Hughes, [Alison] Nolan’s great-grandfather. He offered sightseeing cruises along the Charles, coaxing his neighbors off the sweltering stoops of their apartment buildings for a cool trip up the river. The boat rides, which cost 10 cents, were a welcome treat on a hot day, even though the waters reeked of sewage and trash. Somehow, the filth didn’t stop Hughes’s new business from growing. He expanded his fleet and set up shop on India Wharf in the 1940s, adding tours to an even less desirable spot—the sludge-filled depths of Boston Harbor. If customers could brave the stench, they’d kick back while chugging past scenic landfills, including the one that used to be on Spectacle Island.”

Boston Magazine’s profile of Boston Harbor Cruises is available, here.

0 Analog Devices Moves ‘Innovation Lab’ to Downtown Boston, Triples office space

Posted on May 10, 2017 by Wil Catlin

Oxford Properties 125 Summer Street is new home for Analog Devices innovation lab. Citing ease-of-access to public transportation as a key influencer in its decision to move to 125 Summer Street in Boston’s Financial District.

Credit: Bizjournals

From the BBJ:

Analog Devices Inc. is more than tripling the size of its startup incubator and emerging technologies lab in a move from Cambridge to downtown Boston — an expansion that will allow the Norwood-based multinational semiconductor company to hire an additional 80 to 140 workers for its emerging-technology group.

The [125 Summer St.] office provided the best mix of easy access to both the MBTA Red Line — a must for a company with roots at MIT, and an employee base that lives in Somerville and Cambridge — as well as what O’Doherty called the burgeoning startup culture of both downtown and the Seaport.