Author Archives: Wil Catlin

0 Map of Boston Coworking Office Space

Posted on by

Coworking office space in Boston by geographic location, courtesy of Xconomy:

map of boston and cambridge shared office space

Credit: Xconomy

Andy Palmer, a Boston serial entrepreneur and angel investor, ‘thinks Boston would be best served by a series of spaces spread among different neighborhoods along the subway system’s Red Line, which touches the city’s busiest startup hubs, including Kendall Square in Cambridge and the Seaport District and Downtown Crossing in Boston. And if you look at the map, that strategy seems to be playing out…Boston’s neighborhoods “all need good, solid coworking spaces because they all have startups and founders that want to do startups in these areas,” Palmer says. “It’s healthy to have these short-term lease options in every one of these areas.”’

0 Boston to Limit Office Tower Signs

Posted on by
office building of PwC in downtown Boston

Credit: Boston Globe

To get you companies name in lights on a building in Boston will now be a formalized policy according to the BRA.  Personally I am a fan of fewer signs rather than seeing our rooftops littered with every brand that occupies our city.

According to a Boston Globe article, “The Boston Redevelopment Authority is working on a new sign policy, one that would formalize by early next year the agency’s often-informal approach, just as Boston’s building boom could bring another round of requests for prominent corporate signage.”

More from the Globe:

“Quite often, when you go to other cities, you’ll see corporate names on top of buildings,” said David Carlson, the Boston Redevelopment Authority’s deputy director for urban design. “The general preference [here] is to not have a skyline dominated by corporate signs and instead to have a skyline that’s dominated by hopefully interesting buildings.”

0 4 Class A Buildings in Boston Under Construction with At Least 50k Sq. Ft.

Posted on by

According to CoStar, there are 4 Class A buildings under construction that can accommodate users of 50,000 square feet or more.  They are located in the Seaport and Back Bay and have combined number of 1,610,202 square feet.

Building Address Submarket Name Number Of Stories Rentable Building Area  Typical Floor Size  Max Floor Contiguous Space  Total Available Space (SF)
888 Boylston Back Bay 17                    425,000             25,000                              26,170                             89,173
100 Northern Ave Seaport 17                    395,202             23,247                              32,006                           154,931
140 Northern Ave Seaport 13                    375,000             30,769                              28,846                           374,998
121 Seaport Blvd Seaport 17                    415,000             24,412                              34,400                           414,202
 Total                 1,610,202

 

 

0 Boston Class A Office Space with at Least 50k Sq. Ft. Draws Interest

Posted on by
101 seaport blvd boston

Credit: Skanska

According to CoStar there are 20 Class A properties that can offer 50,000 square feet or more of contiguous office space in the Seaport, Back Bay or the Financial District (see full chart below).

From the Boston Globe:

Despite Boston’s development boom, big chunks of office space are scarce right now. As of Oct. 1, there were 17 tenants looking for 50,000 square feet or more of top-end office space in downtown Boston, according to real estate firm JLL, and just 11 blocks big enough to house them. That means buildings with room are drawing interest.

Three would-be tenants have proposed leasing all 180,000 square feet that Boston Properties has at 120 St. James, in the base of the old John Hancock Tower, president Douglas Linde told analysts recently. The space PWC left behind for the Seaport, at 125 High Street, also went quick. And Goodwin Procter’s soon-to-be-former home at 53 State has seen strong interest.

One addition to that list may soon be Skanska, offering “brand-new space with all the bells and whistles.”

Building Address Building Name Submarket Name Max Building Contiguous Space
200 Berkeley St Berkeley Bldg Back Bay                                    50,266
501 Boylston St Back Bay                                    62,644
200 Clarendon St John Hancock Tower Back Bay                                  121,989
2 Copley Pl Tower 2 Back Bay                                  122,606
101 Huntington Ave Back Bay                                    60,858
111 Huntington Ave Back Bay                                    70,191
31 Saint James Ave Park Square Bldg Back Bay                                    91,000
1 Beacon St One Beacon Financial District                                  105,786
1 Federal St One Federal Street Financial District                                    55,038
101 Federal St 101 Federal Street Financial District                                    69,873
160 Federal St Landmark Financial District                                    54,221
One Financial Ctr One Financial Center Financial District                                    59,106
125 High St High Street Tower Financial District                                    78,034
50 Milk St Financial District                                    39,644
50 Post Office Sq Financial District                                  117,200
53 State St Exchange Place Financial District                                  382,332
60 State St Financial District                                    57,897
100 Summer St Financial District                                  115,402
40 Water St Congress Square Financial District                                  363,834
101 Seaport Blvd PricewaterhouseCoopers Seaport                                    77,646

 

0 Boston’s Office Building Boom is Centralized

Posted on by

200 Clarendon Back BayLast week I took a tour of the 48th floor at 200 Clarendon Street with Wayland Club Scouts, hosted by Patrick Mulvihill  of Boston Properties, and “wow” was the comment echoed by all the scout’s and their parents.  Now, the floor was completely shelled out with nothing but a cement floor, deck above and exterior windows. It was a great experience and the perfect perch to see how our city is growing vertically.

The growth, however, is consolidated in a few central areas – all of which were perfectly visible from the 48th floor.

From Curbed:

“Tim Logan broke down recent numbers from the Boston Redevelopment Authority that show 83 major projects going up in 19 of the city’s 25 neighborhoods for a total cost construction-wise of around $7 billion. “Yet they’re concentrated in a relative handful of places. About $4 billion worth of the construction — it includes everything from housing to hotels to new storefronts — is taking place in just three neighborhoods: the Seaport, downtown, and the Back Bay. Count the number of projects, and nearly a fourth are in two neighborhoods: South Boston and the Fenway.”

 

0 Boston Office Market Closes 10th Consecutive Quarter of Positive Absorption

Posted on by
Boston office market trends

Credit: TransWestern.net

The Boston Office market continues ahead with its 10th positive quarter of absorption.

From TWurls.com:

Greater Boston’s office market closed its 10th straight quarter of positive growth, albeit at a much slower pace than the 15-year record high of 2 million square feet absorbed during second-quarter, according to “officeSTATus — Q3 2015,” a new research report from Transwestern | RBJ. Despite tenants absorbing only 36,000 square feet of office space during third-quarter 2015, the market has seen a robust 3.6 million square feet of positive absorption during the past 12 months Ë•’ a more accurate indicator of market strength.

“We were unlikely to maintain the pace that was set during the second quarter, which had the highest absorption rate since the dot-com boom in 2000,” said Northeast Research Director Chase Bourdelaise. “An important contributor to the robust 12-month absorption growth is the continued positive gains to the region’s office-using employment, which has increased 12.0 percent since 2009.”

0 HYM Releases New Plans for Government Center Project

Posted on by

The plans for Government Center have been updated by HYM.  The proposed plan consists of the following:

Government Center Project rendering

Credit: Bizjournals.com

  • Two Apartment Tower:
    • 486 units at 480 feet in height
    • 291 Units at 299 feet in height
  • Two Office Towers
    • 1 million square feet at 528 feet in height
    • 163,800 square feet at 157 feet in height
  • Parking of 1,159 spaces
  • Condo/Hotel Tower at 152 feet in height
  • Retail build to suit that will anchor the Canal side of the site

From the BBJ:

The first phase, for which HYM submitted documentation on Monday, is a 45-story, 486-unit residential tower located along New Sudbury Street and a 43-story, 1 million-square-foot office tower located at the corner of New Chardon and Congress streets…HYM’s original plans had the office tower at 600 feet, and a hotel parcel at 275 feet, but those plans were revised in August 2013 to a 528-foot office tower and a 157-foot hotel. The Boston Redevelopment Authority approved the project in November 2013.

HYM’s project aims to connect Boston’s Bulfinch Triangle, Government Center, the West End, the North End and Beacon Hill with a near five-acre development area. It’s slated to be among the largest construction projects in the city — which itself has seen a fair number of cranes in the past few years — and at full buildout will include six new buildings with 812 residential units, 1.1 million square feet of office space, 85,000 square feet of retail space and a 196-room hotel.

 

0 North Station Transportation Plan gets $400k

Posted on by
development near Boston north station

Credit: B&T

The integration of transportation, services and infrastructure is paramount to a city’s success. Boston’s North Station is now benefiting by receiving $400K towards a transportation plan that will look at short and long term solutions.

Banker&Tradesman reports, “the nine-month project will encompass the West End, Bulfinch Triangle and Government Center, where nearly 8 million square feet of commercial and residential projects are expected to be completed in the next few years…The Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) and the city’s transportation department are overseeing the project designed to analyze the existing network and future needs…The $400,000 is expected to cover the entire cost of the project, BRA spokesman Nicholas Martin said.”

More information is available on B&T, here.

0 Putnam nearing HQ move in Boston’s Financial District

Posted on by
100 Federal St. Boston office building

Credit: BBJ

Putnam appears to be in the final throws of swapping one side of Post Office Square for another and leaving their address of 1 P.O. Square that they have had since 1981.  Why move and why move now?

A number of reason play into this from how office space is used to overall economics.

According to the BBJ, “Putnam is close to signing a lease for 275,000 square feet of space at 100 Federal St. and vacating its offices a short walk away in PO Square…at One PO Square, Putnam occupies multiple floors and has lobby-level signage…The fund manager has more than 800 employees at the location, a workforce that includes its primary investment and trading operations as well as its senior executive team.”

You can read additional details on Putnam’s move on the Boston Business Journal.

0 Map Indicates Walking Time to the Nearest MBTA Station

Posted on by

The largest concentration of office space north of New York City is the Boston Financial District.  A frequently asked question is, “what the nearest T line and how far is the walk?” Thanks to Aaron Doucett, we now have an answer.

Boston walking map of MBTA stations

Credit: Doucettmaps

From Boston.com:

[Doucett’s] current creation is a map that MBTA riders can use to visualize the walking distance between their home or office and the nearest MBTA station.

“I wanted to create something that anyone living in Boston or the surrounding cities would find interesting and useful,” Doucett said. “I think this map would also be very helpful for someone looking to move to the area, who is searching for apartments or jobs and wants to estimate their commute.”

Follow this link to view the MBTA walking map.