0 Bulfinch Triangle Parcel Near North Station Acquired for $24.5M

Posted on November 5, 2015 by Wil Catlin

Credit: Banker and Tradesman

Dollars keep coming into Boston’s Class A and B markets. The latest is into the North Station market by Bridgeton for $24.5M. Office Rents in the Class B market are hovering around the $40 mark depending on timing, term and T/I.

A B&T article reports, “New York-based private equity fund Bridgeton Holdings has acquired a hotel and retail building across from the TD Garden for $24.5 million…The five-story, 54,000-square-foot building is located at the corner of Causeway and Friend streets. Ground-floor tenants include Qdoba, North Station Liquors and the Ace Tickets studio used for Celtics pre- and post-game shows on Comcast SportsNet.”

You can read additional information, on B&T, here.

0 Monitor Cambridge Office Developments Online

Posted on November 5, 2015 by Wil Catlin

Cliff Notes for real estate? Well, in a way, yes. coUrbanize is a conduit into filing packages for city development projects, without forcing the reader to take the time to read a 400-page memorandum. The system will allow readers to view a summary of the project and leave their comments behind.

site to track Cambridge office development online

Property page on coUrbanize

A Banker&Tradesman article reports “coUrbanize is partnering with the city to post summaries and details of 42 projects that are in permitting or under construction, including the 1-million-square-foot Kendall Square urban renewal plan and approximately 3,000 new residential units across the city…Over the past year, Cambridge planning officials have been sharing their open data system with coUrbanize, which built a website showing the location and details of all development proposals and construction projects.”

B&T summarized the key point thusly: “The platform gives residents a new avenue to participate in the process outside the traditional public hearing forum.

0 Seaport Office Trades Set the Market

Posted on November 5, 2015 by Wil Catlin

Credit: Banker and Trademan

Seaport trades continue to set the high water mark with Berkeley disposition of the Stillings Street garage and 22 Boston Wharf Road.

From B&T

A Maryland real estate adviser that manages a $7-billion pension fund’s portfolio has made the latest in a series of big investments in Boston’s Fort Point neighborhood, acquiring four parcels for $162.5 million from Boston-based Berkeley Investments Monday. The latest purchases include the 580-space Stillings Street garage and 55,095-square-foot office building at 22 Boston Wharf Road, which sold for $86.5 million. Berkeley is proposing to add two floors of office space totaling 50,000 square feet…Other transactions include 17-31 Farnsworth St. for $44 million, 12 Farnsworth St. for $30 million and a parking lot at 11 Sleeper St. for $2 million.

Related Listings
Available Office Space in Boston Seaport

0 Microsol Announces Expansion, Move to Boston Financial District

Posted on November 4, 2015 by Wil Catlin

Ryan Hurd of Boston Realty Advisors assisted Microsol with their Boston expansion.

From PR Newswire:

Microsol Resources Corporation, an Autodesk Platinum Partner and a recognized leader in CAD and BIM Solutions serving the architectural, engineering and construction industries, is pleased to announce the move of its Boston office to a new location in the heart of the Financial District. Located on the tenth floor of 2 Oliver Street, the new facility features a state-of-the-art training center, capable of handling classes of up to 10 students.

“With the expansion and move to our new office at 2 Oliver Street we will be able to increase our ability to support the growing number of clients we have, not just in Boston and the Boston Metro area, but also in New England in general,” said Emilio Krausz, President, Microsol Resources. “We are now just a short walk away from the offices of many of our current and future clients and from South Station.”

0 Boston Landing is the City’s new Western Border

Posted on November 4, 2015 by Wil Catlin

Credit: Bizjournals.com

Having grown up West of Boston I had always felt that Fenway Park was the edge of the city. Today I still live West of the city and it is clear that our city boarders have not changed, but how we use the space within our borders has. Once active railyards have moved West along with companies like U.S. Steel. What was once rail lines for freight are now for passengers.

From the BBJ:

When the 15-acre Boston Landing development is fully built out, it will be referred to as its own district, much like the Seaport…”It’s really transformational,” Halliday said on a recent media tour of the New Balance Athletics headquarters, a key piece of the overall project. “We really are the western entrance to the city of Boston.”

The master plan for the 15-acre Boston Landing development spans almost 2 million square feet across a dozen buildings, including the recently completed 250,000-square-foot world headquarters for New Balance Athletics.

0 PwC Migrates to Seaport High-Rise Office Space

Posted on November 4, 2015 by Wil Catlin

rendering of new Seaport office space for PwC

Credit: Boston Business Journal

PwC is the newest tenant to migrate from the Financial District to the Seaport. Having their home on High Street of 376,650 square feet to settle into 333,500 might seem like a downsize, but in fact, they are simply more efficient. The use of hot, swappable workstations will be one of the key drivers to the firm requiring a smaller footprint.

According to the Boston Business Journal, “the company moved into the space Tuesday from its former Boston headquarters at 125 High St. It occupies all but four floors of the building, located at the intersection of Seaport Boulevard and Boston Wharf Road. One floor houses a 4,000-square-foot gym that’s free for all employees, while the street level will eventually feature retailers. The glass exterior of the building, on which the firm has a 15-year lease, features a PwC logo. The lobby at PwC’s new location on Seaport Boulevard in Boston takes advantage of natural light.”

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

0 12 Acres in Seaport Square Sells for $359M

Posted on November 4, 2015 by Wil Catlin

Credit: Banker&Tradesman

Trades continue to happen in the Seaport with W/S Development buying 12.5 acres for $359 million.

Banker&Tradesman reports “the parcels, which stretch from Northern Avenue to Summer Street, are the last available developable tracts within the master-planned Seaport Square that is reshaping the waterfront…They’re preapproved for 2.8 million square feet of development, including 1.25 million square feet of residential buildings, 500,000 square feet of stores and restaurants, 400,000 square feet of office space and three hotels. The land also includes a park currently being built between Seaport Boulevard and Northern Avenue, and the completed Q Park on Stillings Street.”

You can read more about the final developable area within Seaport Square on B&T’s website, here.

0 Pedestrian Connector Omitted from final John Hancock Tower Proposal

Posted on November 4, 2015 by Wil Catlin

rendering of new John Hancock tower in Boston back bay

Credit: Boston Business Journal

The folks on the design teams of John Hancock’s new 26 story towers decide not to include the pedestrian bridge in their final plans. Do you feel the design for the top of the tower is too forward?

From the BBJ:

When John Hancock notified the city of its intent to build a 26-story tower at 380 Stuart St., a pedestrian connector linking the new tower and John Hancock’s existing office complex at 200 Berkeley St. was up for consideration…But on Tuesday evening, the project’s design team discussed the shaping of the tower and tapering it down to the ground, creating pedestrian walkways between Stuart and Stanhope streets as well as creating a rooftop terrace that could be rented for private functions. The pedestrian connector was not included in any of the design discussion…When asked about its whereabouts, the design team said: “The bridge is gone.”

0 Boston Software Startup picks Fenway over Kendall Square

Posted on October 28, 2015 by Wil Catlin

Office space at 1330 Boylston Street in Boston

The office market for growing companies appears to be expanding beyond traditional office markets such as Back Bay, Seaport and Financial District to Fenway. This is due to Samuels & Associates offering what companies want and need; cool creative space without a long term lease. New formed and funded companies are in most cases unable to make long term lease commitments, Hatch Fenway is designed to bright that gap between shared space and direct space.

One example of this is documented on the BBJ:

Software startup Appcues has moved from Cambridge to a 2,100-square-foot office at Hatch Fenway, the startup space created by real estate developerSamuels & Associates this summer…the company started out in WeWork co-working space before moving to 300 square feet at 25 First St. in Cambridge. Late last year, the company raised $1.2 million in seed funding from Atlas Ventures and other investors…The company needed space to grow and had looked all over: Downtown Crossing, the Leather District, Kendall Square, Lechmere, Cambridge, the Seaport’s Innovation District. But Kendall Square has become “so office park-y,” Kim said.

“We like getting out of the office and going to interesting places,” he said. “The Fenway just has such a diverse array of restaurants, a movie theater right downstairs. Everything is convenient.”

Related Office Listings
Fenway Office Space for Lease

0 ‘Jewel Box’ Building at 15 Broad Street goes up for Sale

Posted on October 28, 2015 by Wil Catlin

15 Broad Street in Boston Financial District

Credit: Pinterest

Trades continue to take place in the Class B office sector with 15 Broad Street coming to market.

From The Real Reporter:

“the 73,500-sf “jewel box” building that is 100 percent occupied and has a cachet one observer terms “exceptional,” so much so that market estimates are putting the anticipated price range for an exchange around $475 per sf, which if accurate would be in the range of $35 million…As to pricing prospects, the concept of a deal around $475 per sf is bolstered by a similarly sized trade of another nearby asset in May when JLL delivered its client $479 per sf on the sale of One Milk St. to Midwood Investment and the $438 per sf Capital Properties paid to ELV Associates via Cushman & Wakefield a month before that for 66 Long Wharf, a 77,600-sf waterfront building blocks from Broad Street that carried a capitalization rate of 5.0 percent. “I could see that,” one downtown specialist says when asked if 15 Broad St. could even eclipse that $34.0 million outcome. The industry veteran looks more to the building itself for that conclusion, citing its proven appeal to small- and medium-size companies who have 15 Broad St. filled to the rafters with leases ranging from under 1,000 sf to a 14,300-sf pact involving the top two floors that runs to March 2024.”