0 Tesla Store Coming to Boylston Street in Boston

Posted on October 27, 2015 by Wil Catlin

Credit: BBJ

Boylston Street continues its technology leadership role with anchor stores from Apple, Verizon, AT&T, Microsoft to its newest Tesla Motors. Tesla will be one of the newest addition to the Shops at Prudential in Boston’s Back Bay. The Prudential complex consists of:

800 Boylston Street
101 Huntington Avenue
111 Huntington Avenue
888 Boylston Street

A BBJ article, covering the announcement of a Back Bay Tesla store, notes the following:

“We are excited to have a larger presence in Boston,” said a Tesla spokeswoman in an email, adding the store would host an “opening event” in the next several weeks. She declined to discuss any other other details of the retail store. Tesla already has two stores in Massachusetts, one in Natick and one in Dedham. The company also has a service center in Watertown. A company spokesman recently told the Boston Herald that it has plans to open more stores in Massachusetts over the next two years.

0 Back Bay Station Air Quality Fixes Prove Costly

Posted on October 13, 2015 by Wil Catlin

The cost of clean air is very expensive, but totally worth it.

According to an article on Banker & Tradesman, “The repairs could climb from $800,000 to $6 million…The MBTA commissioned Westwood-based Hatch Mott MacDonald to study the decades-old ventilation system as part of a $32-million station renovation project being led by developer Boston Properties. For years, diesel exhaust from commuter rail locomotives has lingered on station platforms and filtered up to the concourse…MassDOT spokesman Jason Johnson said the MBTA will adopt the report’s recommendation of creating a modeling assessment that would include detailed engineering. The model is expected to be completed by the end of winter.”

You can read additional information on the air quality assessment of Back Bay station on the B&T website.

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0 Proposed Back Bay Tower on Stuart Street Revealed

Posted on October 5, 2015 by Wil Catlin

Please have a look at Back Bay’s newest proposed tower on Stuart Street. This will be 625,000 RSF on 26 floors.

Credit: BBJ

From the Boston Business Journal:

Boston-based insurance giant John Hancock has submitted its expanded project notification form to city officials, and with the document comes a broader look at the firm’s proposed 26-story Back Bay tower…John Hancock’s proposed 388-foot tower at 380 Stuart St. is slated to span 625,000 square feet, of which 10,000 square feet would be ground-floor retail. The tower would also include a four-level, 175-space underground parking deck.

0 Copley’s Iconic Hancock Tower Named Changed to 200 Clarendon St.

Posted on September 2, 2015 by Wil Catlin

Credit: BBJ

Good bye to the JHT, John Hancock Tower, hello 200 Clarendon Street.

From B&T:

Landlord Boston Properties has formally renamed New England’s tallest building, the 60-story John Hancock Tower, now that Manulife’s John Hancock Insurance division no longer occupies any office space in the mirrored glass rhomboid.

“We’re not allowed to call it (the Hancock Tower) anymore as the Hancock Manulife lease expired at the end of the second quarter,” Boston Properties President Douglas Linde said during a conference call today.

Boston Properties acquired the property in 2010 for $930 million. Leases by John Hancock and State Street Corp. totaling 414,000 square feet recently expired, increasing vacancies in the 1.7-million-square-foot tower. Boston Properties is repositioning the former State Street offices as tech space under the “120 St. James” name, reflecting a new entrance on that avenue.

0 Upgrades Scheduled for Newly Privatized MBTA Station in Back Bay

Posted on August 31, 2015 by Wil Catlin

Back Bay Station is the 3rd Boston transit hub that has been turned over to the private sector and has some significant deferred maintenance. Boston Properties is doing its part to help bridge the gap.

Credit: Boston Globe

From The Boston Globe:

Just months after signing a $32 million deal to have the real estate giant Boston Properties upgrade the station, the Department of Transportation has agreed to cover six-figure shortfalls in rent from vendors and pay potentially big sums for structural repairs.

The agreement, signed in the closing weeks of the administration of Deval Patrick, calls for Boston Properties to manage the building and renovate the station — installing a new glass facade and windows, updating turnstiles and waiting areas, and bringing in new retail tenants.

In exchange, the company gets the right to build a tower above the station, which opened in 1987.

0 John Hancock II Planned for 380 Stuart Street in Back Bay

Posted on August 31, 2015 by Wil Catlin

rendering of new john hancock_tower at 380 Stuart Street

Credit: Boston Business Journal

The John Hancock tower Version 2.0 is being planned for 380 Stuart Street in Back Bay.

An article on the BBJ outlines the “six things you need to know about the tower proposal;” here are a few excerpts from the Boston Business Journal’s report:

What’s being proposed: A 625,000-square-foot, 26-story tower with street-level retail and cafe space and 175 underground parking spaces. The tower would top out at 380 feet.
Where would the tower go: 380 Stuart St., which is home to a nine-story, 140,000-square-foot office that dates back to 1924 and houses John Hancock Financial Services employees.
Who would go in: John Hancock envisions “owner-occupancy and commercial office” tenants using the space.
How would it be financed: John Hancock, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Canadian financial services firm Manulife Financial (NYSE: MFC), would finance the building in its entirety.
Who’s leading development:Colliers International is the project manager representing John Hancock. The architects are Chicago-based Skidmore Owings Merrill and Boston-based CBT Architects.
What’s the project timeline: If approved, construction would start in late 2016, and the tower would be complete in early 2019.

0 Boston’s John Hancock Tower Nears 47

Posted on August 5, 2015 by Wil Catlin

Credit: Boston Globe

Boston is under a major construction boom which is evident as you look across our skyline. The John Hancock tower was a major milestone in our city when the project broke ground in August of 1968.

From the Boston Globe:

The groundbreaking ceremony for New England’s tallest building, the John Hancock Tower, was on Aug. 21, 1968. The 60-story minimalist structure was constructed with huge panes of reflective glass that proved to be a problem in the 1970s. Many panes of glass crashed to the ground with high wind speeds, causing street closures and huge safety concerns. After pane replacement and structural fixes that stabilized the tower, the actual cost of the construction nearly doubled the projected budget.

0 New Boston Skyscrapers will Make — or Brake — the Skyline

Posted on July 13, 2015 by Wil Catlin

Copley square office buildings in Boston

Credit: Boston Globe

The greater Boston audience has an opinion about just about anything, including our skyline. This poses a challenge to Boston’s strongest developers and architects to reshape our city into something elegant, energizing, and functional.

From the Boston Globe:

No matter how elegantly they may be paved or planted, urban plazas are boring, windy, and little used, especially in weather like ours. The Prudential, back before its Arctic plazas were filled in with shopping arcades, was a good example. The Federal Reserve Bank, next to South Station, is another. It’s a handsome, eloquent Diva tower behind a plaza that has the charm of a recently abandoned battlefield.

As far as the public is concerned, cities aren’t made of buildings and plazas, anyway. Cities are made of streets and parks. From the point of view of urban design, the buildings are there to shape those public spaces and feed them with energy.

0 Can the Supply of Office Space in Boston Keep up with Demand?

Posted on July 1, 2015 by Wil Catlin

office buildings in boston on the waterfront

Credit: Banker&Tradesman

The Boston market will continue to grow through 2018. How will this affect office pricing in the years to come?

From Banker&Tradesman:

“The challenge you have in the city of Boston is: do we create too much supply and get to a point where we’re not seeing rent growth?” said Mitchell Roschelle, PwC’s national practice head of real estate advisory. “We heard this quarter in the survey a little bit of concern on the part of some investors about the new supply to the market. How that supply performs is going to dictate whether we see investors flooding the market with capital.”

The tenant retention rate was 68 percent in the first quarter with landlords offering an average of five months of free rent, according to the survey. Cap rates averaged 5.7 percent in the Boston central business district and 7.2 percent in the suburbs. Boston is one of 32 U.S. office markets expected to remain in expansion phase in 2015, the PwC report said, with employment generating demand for office space outpacing new supply…San Francisco, which shares many of Boston’s market characteristics, is expected to contract in 2015 and enter a recession mode with negative rental growth in 2017.

0 Courtyard Development Planned at 500 Boylston

Posted on June 10, 2015 by Wil Catlin

Not only is 500 Boylston Street on the market, it’s looking to grow as well by 77,300 square feet. This would include up to 3 floors of retail and create a lobby with a gathering place with open seating.

Credit: Boston Herald

From the Boston Herald:

“The project will improve the pedestrian experience along Boylston Street by filling in an underused courtyard,” said Equity Office Properties in a BRA filing. “(It) will activate the sidewalks and street edge on Boylston Street, and will improve the retail experience.

The new building would house 79,300 square feet of retail and office space, and would replace a recessed courtyard off Boylston Street…Instead of the courtyard, developers say a lobby will serve as a gathering place, with seating and potentially a fireplace.