0 11 Massachusetts Companies Climb Fortune 500 List

Posted on June 15, 2016 by Wil Catlin

Credit: BBJ

Massachusetts is on the march up the fortune 500 list with all but 12 of the companies advancing from their standing last year. The list next year will add GE, which placed 11th on the current list.

From the Boston Business Journal:

Again leading the way in Massachusetts was Boston-based insurance giant Liberty Mutual, which rose to No. 73 on the list after finishing No. 78 last year. Springfield’s MassMutual jumped nearly 20 spots on the list to No. 76, and this year Framingham-based retailer TJX (NYSE: TJX) entered the Fortune 100, coming in at No. 89 after ranking No. 103 last year.

0 230K SF Office Building Planned at South End Garage

Posted on June 14, 2016 by Wil Catlin

rendering of office tower at South End garage site

Credit: Banker&Tradesman

Daily garage parking in Boston’s urban core is some of the most expensive in the country. Combine that with our tight office market, and you have a swell of new opportunities across the city. The proposal brought forth by Nordblom is a 230K SF building atop 321 Harrison Avenue.

From B&T:

Designed by SMMA of Cambridge, the office building would be built of insulated glass in a metal panel system with some curtain walls with floor-to-ceiling glazing. The building will have sweeping views of the Financial District and Back Bay and be designed with totally open floor plates with “exceptional” ceiling heights, said Og Hunnewell, a partner with Nordblom Co.

The ground floor would include cultural or gallery space at the corner of Herald Street and Harrison Avenue. Copley Wolff Design Group is the landscape architect. Open space is planned next to 1000 Washington St., an 11-story, 234,900-square-foot office building that shares the site and will be retained.

Nordblom estimates the project would create 1,500 permanent jobs.

0 Downtown Crossing Embodies Boston’s Modernization

Posted on June 14, 2016 by Wil Catlin

Credit: BBJ

Boston’s Downtown Crossing (DTX) is ground zero for development and change in Boston. The $3.9 billion invested in the past decade is evident by transformations to the streetscape and skyline.

According to the Boston Business Journal, “the Downtown Boston Business Improvement District recently issued a report titled ‘The Transformation of Downtown Crossing’ to provide a progress report about the district’s development.”

“We have seen tremendous growth in a number of areas throughout the BID — from major new construction, such as 45 Province, Millennium Place and Millennium Tower, to a growing number of retail and new businesses that are attracting additional employees and clients to the area, to our status as one of the fastest growing residential neighborhoods in the city,” said Rosemarie Sansone, president and CEO of the BID, in the report. “The next phase of our development includes a strategic planning exercise, which will be under way soon.”

You can read the full article on the BBJ’s website.

0 Dorchester Ave in the Crosshairs of Boston’s Next Development Boom

Posted on June 10, 2016 by Wil Catlin

Credit: Banker & Tradesman

Growth is inevitable, but where and when it happens fosters much debate. Dot Ave appears to be in the crosshairs of the next development boom for Boston.

According to Banker and Tradesman, “the South Boston Dorchester Avenue plan sees potential for up to 16 million square feet of new development on 144 acres of predominantly industrial parcels over the next two decades. The product of a 10-month study and community review, the plan will go to the Boston Redevelopment Authority board of directors for approval this summer…The study anticipates that the forces of gentrification that have swept through other sections of South Boston and the South End will transform the corridor, which is bookended by the Broadway and Andrew T stations.”

You can read more about the development of Dorchester Avenue on B&T.

0 Final Proposals Named for Northern Avenue Bridge Redesign

Posted on June 10, 2016 by Wil Catlin

Rendering of Norther Ave. Bridge redesign

Credit: Boston Business Journal

The Northern Avenue Bridge has arrived at the final 4. Next to follow are the RFP’s from the City of Boston.

From the BBJ:

The city of Boston and the Boston Society of Architects announced the winners of a competition Thursday that would reimagine the Northern Avenue Bridge, the now-closed dilapidated structure that serves as a link between downtown and the burgeoning Seaport District.

The four winning ideas — chosen by a jury assembled by the city and the BSA — range from a plan to place an elevated civic space in the middle of a revamped bridge to one that places a “greenhouse where botanical gardens flourish year round.”

You can read more about the final four Northern Ave. Bridge proposals on the BBJ.

0 Curbed Lists ’10 Buildings That Tell the Story of Boston’

Posted on June 10, 2016 by Wil Catlin

Credit: 200clarendon.com

For those history buffs of Boston buildings and architecture here is the top 10, according to Curbed Boston.

1. Faneuil Hall
1 Faneuil Hall Sq
Boston, MA 02109

2. Massachusetts State House
1 Ashburton Pl
Boston, MA 02108

3. Park Street Station
Park St.
Boston, MA 02108

4. The First Triple-Decker
10 Crowell St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124

5. The Custom House Tower
3 McKinley Sq.
Boston, MA 02109

6. The Pru
800 Boylston St.
Boston, MA 02199

7. City Hall
1 City Hall Sq.
Boston, MA 02201

8. Logan Air Traffic Control Tower
Boston Logan International Airport (BOS)
Boston, MA 02128

9. 200 Clarendon
200 Clarendon St.
Boston, MA 02116

10. The Ritz-Carlton Residences
10 Avery St .
Boston, MA 02111

0 Boston Helipad Near the O’Neill Tunnel?

Posted on June 9, 2016 by Wil Catlin

Credit: The Boston Globe

Commuting is a key to our city’s continued growth on the international stage, and the newest venue in that arena will be a helipad. Where the city, state and the FAA decide to put it is the next big question. Personally, I prefer the grassy plot south of Kneeland Street near an entrance to the O’Neill Tunnel.

A recent Boston Globe article notes “the state has already discussed a small patch of grass just to the south of the Tip O’Neill Tunnel, an unremarkable place so close to the surrounding highways that pilots could all but converse with motorists stuck in rush-hour traffic…But that’s just one possibility. The state Department of Transportation is also expected to look at a number of other locations close to GE’s future headquarters in Fort Point. And then there’s always the option of sticking a helipad on a barge in the water.”

You can read more on the Globe’s site, here.

0 Tech Offices Planned for Flower Exchange Site

Posted on June 9, 2016 by Wil Catlin

Credit: Boston Globe

The Boston Flower Exchange site could be home to a new Tech Exchange site employing 5,000 – 10,000 people and rival that of Kendall Square in Cambridge.

According to the Boston Globe, “the buyers of the Boston Flower Exchange property Thursday unveiled plans to turn the 5.6-acre warehouse facility on Albany Street in the South End into a tech office campus they hope could rival Kendall Square in Cambridge, employing as many as 5,000 to 10,000 people…In addition to offices, the development could include parking, public space, and perhaps some housing. All told, zoning there would allow as much as 1.6 million square feet, said Abbey Group managing partner William Keravuori — three times the size of the nearby Ink Block complex.”

You can read the full article on the Boston Globe’s website.

0 Government Center Garage Aims for Dynamic Redevelopment

Posted on June 9, 2016 by Wil Catlin

This plan to remake the Government Center Garage is genius. The notion that the garage will be repurposed into a smaller garage, apartments and tower infrastructure solves many problems that held this project back. The largest non-economic benefit for the neighborhood is not having to go through demolition and then site work that could exceed 18th months.

Credit: Boston Globe

From the Boston Globe:

“It’s not as if you can just swing a wrecking ball at this thing,” said Tom O’Brien, managing director of the development firm HYM Investment Group, which is turning the huge garage into the base of two new skyscrapers, a third mid-rise apartment building, and a plaza of low-rise buildings along the Rose Kennedy Greenway.

Instead, HYM will carefully take down parts of the garage, while remaking other sections so it can continue to provide parking during and after construction. In some places whole sections of the garage will be demolished, while elsewhere HYM will slice off portions to make way for several of the buildings; the remainder of the garage will serve as a platform that unifies the complex.

0 Broomfield Street in Downtown Crossing in the Crosshairs of Change

Posted on June 7, 2016 by Wil Catlin

Credit: Wbur

Boston continues to grow and change, the result of which, is larger developments with big footprints. Change is at the forefront for some neighborhoods that are witnessing redevelopment on a grand scale.

Bromfield Street in Downtown Crossing is in the crosshairs of change, and it is possible that the two-block street might follow that of the 8-track player.

From Wbur:

On Wednesday night, the Boston Redevelopment Authority will consider plans for this new curved, irregular tower at 1 Bromfield St. And that could portend huge changes for the little street once described as Boston’s “hobby street,” where there’s still just a little bit of the old Boston left.

The proposed building would be 700 feet tall — as tall as Millennium Tower — which is in the final stretches of its construction across the street at 1 Franklin St. The New York developer, Midwood, would have to get the height restriction in the neighborhood changed to build the project.