0 Boston Landing Along the Mass Pike to House Bruins’ New Practice Rink

Posted on October 12, 2014 by Wil Catlin

Bruins mixed use practice facility in Brighton

Credit: Boston Herald

Not just tech companies are looking for new space, the Bruins are coming to Boston Landing along the Pike. Combined with a new commuter rail station, our city continues to expand and offer services that address our growth.

The Boston Herald notes, “the Boston Bruins’ new Hub practice rink stands to get a prime location along the Mass Pike in New Balance’s $500 million Boston Landing project…Pending permitting approvals, New Balance hopes to start construction on the 75,000-square-foot rink complex — and an adjacent nine-story office building with a ground-floor Bruins pro-shop and other retail — no later than November, much earlier than the original planned spring start date…The Bruins’ practice facility will have seating for about 650 spectators, a VIP area, function room and concessions. It also will include locker rooms, a lounge, a strength and conditioning/rapid shot area, training rooms, video and conference areas and offices for the Bruins.”

More information on the project, along with the Bruins’ practice facilities, are available on the Boston Herald.

0 Boston Innovation District Multiplies

Posted on October 12, 2014 by Wil Catlin

Boston Mayor Walsh announces 'Neighborhood Innovation District Committee'

Credit: BBJ

Innovation is moving beyond the Innovation District according to Mayor Walsh. This is a great example of taking what has worked and duplicating it in other communities.

The BBJ observed that “Mayor Martin J. Walsh announced on Friday the formation of a ‘Neighborhood Innovation District Committee’ with one purpose: to expand innovation within the city of Boston. A news release states the Neighborhood Innovation District Committee ‘will seek to identify policies, practices, and infrastructure improvements to support the development of innovation districts throughout the city.'”

Additional information on the Innovation District Committee are available on the Boston Business Journal.

0 Open Office Experiment in Boston Fosters Inclusion and Collaboration

Posted on October 12, 2014 by Wil Catlin

Credit: Harvard Business Review/hbr.org

Looking for a new office? Thinking you simple want private offices because that’s what you have always had? Well, have a look at how that has changed for some companies.

According to the Harvard Business Review, a working ‘office experiment’ was carried out by The Bridgespan Group in its Back Bay offices, to determine what impact an open, shared workspace would have on employee collaboration and production. The HBR article includes the following:

At the end of our design lab, we handed off to our architects a “radical” plan which they built out over the next few months.

It included:

an open café, where staff bump into each other making coffee, or making sandwiches and catch up or take care of business
a “laboratory” space with tables, sofas and white boards at the heart of the office, where teams meet and discuss work previously done in closed conference rooms
a large, closed-off library space with lots of natural light that we call the “quiet car,” where people can work without interruption
several small comfortable seating clusters throughout the office for small-group conversations
a bank of small private rooms for people to use when they truly need privacy for meetings, phone calls, or individual work–but no private offices even for the most senior staff
sitting and standing work stations where people can park themselves day-to-day
glass-walled conference rooms so most meetings are seen by everyone, even if they aren’t heard
background noise masking, so that conversations in the open are heard as mild hubbub rather than distinct, distracting words
lockers in which staff can keep personal items

Six months in, we continue to be amazed at how differently we work in the new space and how much the spirit of our office has changed. We used to make appointments to see each other; now, we often just run into each other, and all kinds of new ideas emerge from these unplanned collisions of two or three or four people….Formal meetings are routinely held in the open areas, where it’s easy to bring in someone else on the spur of the moment—just because they’re passing nearby, or sitting in view.

0 Commuting to Boston: the reality of Mass. Pike Traffic

Posted on October 12, 2014 by Wil Catlin

Credit: wikimedia.org

I meet with evolving, growing companies each day, looking to house their corporate office in Boston Commutes are a factor of life in our city, and to-date, I have yet to see a company avoid Boston due to commutes. Our infrastructure needs to be maintained and upgraded and yes it is frustrating, but I will continue to traverse the Pike, leaving earlier in the morning to beat the rush.

The BBJ offers the following for context:

“The toll-paying commuters lost two lanes last August (one each way) as much-needed repair began on the Commonwealth Avenue bridge. This is no minor inconvenience: The project, a $22 million job, is supposed to take two years….The Massachusetts Department of Transportation has been trying to soft-sell this traffic travesty, and they recently produced a heap of data using a real-time traffic tracking system indicating that the average inbound delay is about 10 minutes during rush hour. Although the data doesn’t jibe with most motorists’ experiences, even 10 extra minutes adds some 2,500 minutes a year to the average motorist’s commute, or 5,000 minutes (or 83 hours, or two full work weeks) over the life of the bridge repair project.”

0 Boston Office Motif is Open and Shared

Posted on October 12, 2014 by Wil Catlin

Credit: The Boston Globe

The look and feel of today’s office space is dramatically different than what we saw just 10 years ago. Collaborative is the new norm and private offices are a thing of the past. Gone is the bowling alley of offices replaced by open spaces with exposed ceilings.

Drawing a parallel between the modern workspace and online social behavior, the Boston Globe notes, “in a fast-paced high-tech world where community seems to be more valued than privacy, the office partitions have come down in the name of collaboration and quick exchange…Offices are being designed to offer slightly cramped but open spaces to create “collision zones” for employees, where conversations get started and ideas get hatched. Status-based work areas have gotten the pink slip as companies envision cross-departmental, even cross-industry alliances. And why have a meeting around a gigantic table when you and a few co-workers can set up shop in a booth — not so different from one at Denny’s. Sound much different from your office? Just wait.”

The Boston Globe article is comprehensive and worthy of a read; it’s available on the Globe’s online real estate section.

0 Boston Commercial Real Estate Trends towards Open Floor Plans and Collaborative Workspaces

Posted on October 12, 2014 by Wil Catlin

Organizations are knocking down interior office walls faster than you can spell “collaboration.”

Boston Realty Advisors estimates more than 75% of tenants today are looking for open floor plans, as opposed to traditional layouts with closed-door offices and high-walled cubicles. The trend for open offices is giving fresh legs to a proven phenomenon. Many organizations site open floor plans as a core element to their company ethos and ultimately, a key reason for their success. Zappos, for example, credits its open floor plan as a critical element to establishing and maintaining its culture. From a few employees 15 years ago, to more than 1,500 today, Zappos has maintained its open floor plan throughout the company’s history.

The push to open floor plans isn’t just for employees and middle management. In fact, many CEOs are leading the charge. By placing themselves alongside the team, the benefits are clear: increased availability, greater transparency and a heightened awareness to company culture and communication. The tired corporate adage, “My door is always open,” pales in comparison to today’s mantra, “I don’t have a door to close.”

Wayfair, the Boston-based online home furnishings company, proudly describes its collaborative C-suite structure. “At Wayfair, there are no corner offices. In fact, there are no offices at all. We support an open, transparent workplace where leaders mentor the 1,600+ bright talents that sit among them – and visa versa.”

Another organization, The Bridgespan Group, detailed their journey from a traditional office environment to a new, open floor plan. Their tale serves as a playbook for organizations considering an open floor plan:

·         Open café to bring colleagues together
·         Laboratory space for teams to meet and brainstorm
·         Library-like space for quiet work
·         Comfortable seating areas for small-group meetings
·         Private rooms for private conversations
·         Sitting and standing work stations for day-to-day use
·         Glass-walled conference rooms for full transparency
·         Noise dampening techniques to muffle distinct words
·         Lockers for personal items

So, get out that sledgehammer and start creating a vision for a collaborative work environment.

Alternatively, follow the link to our property pages to view available Boston Commercial Real Estate.

0 101 Seaport Boulevard Set to Open Oct. 2015

Posted on October 9, 2014 by Wil Catlin

Credit: Banker&Tradesman

The Seaport office marker continues to grow with 101 Seaport Boulevard scheduled to host its new tenant PwC in October of 2015.

Banker and Tradesman observes, “construction crews from Skanska and its subcontractors attended a ceremony Tuesday as the final steel beam was placed atop the structure to complete the framing phase of the project…The parcel is part of the 23-acre Seaport Square development that is permitted for 6.35 million square feet of residential and commercial development. Skanska acquired the one-acre 101 Seaport parcel for $33 million from Morgan Stanley and Boston Global Investors in 2012.”

The full B&T article is available here: Aggressive Timetable For PwC Tower In Seaport

0 888 Boylston Street to Bring New Office Space to Back Bay

Posted on October 9, 2014 by Wil Catlin

Credit: Bisnow

888 Boylston Street will offer the newest office space in Back Bay in 10 years. This building will have a strong green initiative that will incorporate onsite solar and wind power generation. Additionally, “those working in this mid-rise will have enough natural light 60% of the time to forgo artificial lighting thanks to 14-foot ceilings and other technology. It will use 37% less potable water and 45% less energy than a traditional office. Bryan…who has a long time commitment to sustainability, says in addition to solar-energy generated on-site, this will be Boston’s first commercial office tower to use wind turbine energy,” Bisnow reports.

Click through for additional details on the proposed newest Back Bay office building.

0 Seaport Office Rent Exceeds Boston Financial District

Posted on October 5, 2014 by Wil Catlin

Seaport District: 320 West Second Street (click on the image for property details)

The most expensive office market in Boston is Back Bay. Not surprising. The surprising piece of news is the Seaport and Innovation District is the second most expensive office market in Boston, edging out the Financial District by over a $1.00 PSF. So the value play is the Class A low rise and Class B within the Financial District.

“‘For the first time in at least the last seven quarters if not ever, average asking rents in Boston’s burgeoning Seaport District have surpassed asking rents in the city’s Financial District, according to new data from real estate brokerage Jones Lang LaSalle,’ published on the BBJ. “The highest rate of year-over-year rent growth was in the Seaport District, where landlords were asking 24.7 percent more in the third quarter of 2014 than during the third quarter of 2013.”

Additional details on the market discrepancy are available in the full Boston Business Journal article.

0 Strong Demand Keeps Boston Office Rents Rising

Posted on October 5, 2014 by Wil Catlin

Office Building in Demand: 121 High Street in Boston’s financial district (click for property details)

Today there are fewer options for office tenants to occupy, along with with increased office rents. Combine this with additional tenant improvement dollars that have been pushed downward, and free rent has become obsolete. What does that mean? We are in the midst of a landlord market.

From The Boston Globe:

“Strong growth of technology and financial companies is increasing office rents across the region and fueling proposals for new office buildings from Route 128 to Cambridge and downtown Boston…In Boston, rents for top-rated space ticked up to $51.79. That represents only a slight increase from last year, but several large companies have recently committed to leasing new space in the city, including Natixis Global Asset Management and Sonos Inc., a wireless speaker maker.”

“’A lot of younger workers want to be in the city, and that’s very clearly driving companies’ decisions,’ said Bob Richards, a partner at Transwestern RBJ. ‘That trend is definitely deepening.’”