0 Boston Commercial Real Estate Retrospective

Posted on April 13, 2015 by Wil Catlin

Boston office buildings line the skyline

Credit: The Boston Globe

The city of Boston that is home to a wide variety of college, universities, professional sports team, hospitals and companies is changing. We have created the Back Bay, built office tower and now adding more buildings to our skyline. No longer are the tower views home to companies, but residences.

The Boston Globe has put together a retrospective, “A new age for an old town”, tracing the Hub’s commercial transformation. The article notes the following:

Today, Boston Properties, one of the city’s most prolific builders, is developing a 17-story office building on the final parcel within the Prudential complex. Meanwhile, the area around the Pru is exploding with new projects and proposals for hotels and towering residential buildings.

“It’s absolutely extraordinary,” said Bob Richards, a partner at Transwestern RBJ. “What’s driving it is the top-tier labor talent in industries like technology and life sciences. The young people who work for those companies want to live in an urban environment.”

Not coincidentally, the city’s population is rising more rapidly than it has in decades. The total head count rose by nearly 30,000 people, to about 646,000, between 2010 and 2013, according to the US Census Bureau. That’s more population growth in three years than Boston experienced in the 1980s and ’90s combined.

0 Hancock Tower Looks to Attract Boston Tech Companies

Posted on April 13, 2015 by Wil Catlin

JHT (John Hancock Tower) is no longer home to only large law firms and large financial services firms. Today JHT is chasing tech tenants that want Class A infrastructure and amenities with large floor plates. The low rise floors fit the bill and can be a great value play for both tenant and landlord. Boston Properties purchased the tower on 12/29/2010 for $930 million from Normandy Real Estate Partners.Some of the tenants include:

Bain Capital
CRA International
Oliver Wyman
Carat International
TA Associates
Berkshire Partners
Arclight Capital

From the Boston Globe:

“Frankly, the tech guys, where most of the demand in the market is, are not necessarily looking to go into a building that’s very corporate feeling,” Martel said. “These technology firms didn’t really care as much about the views. They liked the value, good clear [ceiling] heights, and efficiency.”

0 Prudential Center Expanding Retail Space in Back Bay

Posted on March 26, 2015 by Wil Catlin

Credit: Wikipedia

Retail is growing in Back Bay with the help of Boston Properties. 16,343 square feet of new retail is coming to the already 500,00 square feet plus.

From the BBJ:

“Boston Properties is adding space for up to three new retailers at the Prudential Center, the 502,813-square-foot retail complex in Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood…Shawmut Design and Construction has been issued a $9.2 million building permit to build the core and shell of 16,343 square feet of space along the center’s Boylston Arcade off 800 Boylston St.”

0 Boston Office Rents Among Country’s Most Expensive

Posted on March 11, 2015 by Wil Catlin

Boston Rents continue its upward push with four office markets leading that charge: Back Bay, East Cambridge, Financial District and Seaport. The Class A market within Back Bay is clearly leading the way, while some value still exists within the Class B market. A real driver in the increased rents is the cost of tenant improvement dollars going from shell space to fix up space. Not uncommon to see those numbers north of $75 per square foot.

Credit: Boston Business Journal

According to the BBJ, “the Back Bay’s average rents hovered over $60 last year [while]…Midtown New York commanded about $130 per square foot, and both San Francisco and Washington rents topped $75 per square foot.”

You can read the full article on the Boston Business Journal.

0 Back Bay and North Station May Get New Office Towers

Posted on February 11, 2015 by Wil Catlin

Credit: B&T

Boston Properties is moving forward with 2 major projects located at 2 transportation hubs. Back Bay Station is the proposed spot of a new tower development, while North Station will benefit from the same.

From Banker and Tradesman:

The real estate investment trust said this morning it has entered a joint venture to acquire the air rights for the 377,000-square-foot initial phase of the North Station redevelopment. It also has signed a 44-year extension on its lease for the Clarendon Street parking garage with the state Department of Transportation, part of a larger proposal to build two towers containing offices, residences and retail above Back Bay Station. As part of the agreement, Boston Properties will take over management of the renovated station, which serves the Orange Line subway and several commuter rail lines.

0 Newbury Street Real Estate Goes in ‘Hub Buying Spree’

Posted on January 28, 2015 by Wil Catlin

Credit: The Real Reporter

Urban Meritage closes on another piece of Newbury Street real estate by adding 50,000 rentable square feet.

From The Real Reporter:

Bringing its CRE holdings secured here to 11 properties in just 21 months, the partnership of Urban Meritage and Novaya Ventures (UMNV) has taken a giant step forth in purchasing the hulking six-story 126 Newbury St. from its longtime New York owner in an eye-popping $54.2 million deal consummated earlier today. Rudin Management’s trade brings UMNV’s portfolio of assets focused along the famed shopping boulevard to nearly $150 million, blowing past the $100 million level in one fell swoop and giving the firm three prime buildings between Berkeley and Exeter Streets, the latest on the third block up from the Boston Public Garden and next to the second block where UMNV began its platform via the $10.0 million.

0 Back Bay Retail Development Boost Ahead

Posted on January 19, 2015 by Wil Catlin

Retail is getting a makeover in Back Bay. Boston Properties will making some major announcements as it pertains to their new building 888 Boylston Street and the neighboring retail spaces.

From Women’s Wear Daily:

The Shops at the Prudential Center are about to get a major overhaul complements of Boston Properties…Executives there declined to name any of the incoming tenants just yet, but vowed to identify the retailer that has been secured for a nearly 9,000-square-foot space in the mall in the next few months.

The Pru’s food atrium is [also] said to be getting a serious makeover and Boston Properties reportedly will build a grand-scale new building for office space, luxury condos and retail nearby at 888 Boylston Street near Gucci’s current location. As reported, the first Primark store will bow in Boston later this year at Downtown Crossing as part of the multi-million dollar Millenium Tower and Burnham Building development project. Millenium Partners plans to build a 60-story glass tower near where the original Filene’s once stood.

0 Back Bay Project Progressing

Posted on January 19, 2015 by Wil Catlin

rendering of proposed renovations at Back Bay station in Boston

Rendering courtesy of the Boston Globe

Boylston Street in Back Bay is closer to adding a new address for a $330 million mixed use project. This is known as Parcel 13, which is on the North East side of Mass. Ave. & Boylston Street.

From The Boston Globe:

Peebles Corp. was chosen over two rival bidders to develop Parcel 13, a rectangle of state-owned air rights at the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Boylston Street that stretches over the Massachusetts Turnpike. Peebles now needs to win both state and city approvals to move ahead with the project…The proposed development, designed by Handel Architects of New York and about a block long, would include a 156-room hotel, 88 condominiums, 138 parking spaces, community areas, and 26,000 square feet of retail space. The building’s footprint would stretch from Mass. Ave. to Dillon’s Restaurant & Bar on Boylston Street and would feature a distinctive squiggle shape.

0 Boston Office Rents Stay Among Country’s Highest in 2015

Posted on January 18, 2015 by Wil Catlin

Credit: Boston Business Journal

Boston Office rents are some of the most expensive nationally and expected to continue upward during 2015. Vacancy in the city has continued downward with value options within the low rise Class A and Class B in the Financial District.

“The vacancy rate in Boston at the end of the fourth quarter was 13.4 percent, the seventh-lowest rate in the country among the roughly 75 markets Reis examined…The national average was 16.7 percent. Average Boston rents rose 0.2 percentage points during the fourth quarter. Most of the cities saw a small decline. Average rent in Boston at the end of the fourth quarter was $32.42 per square foot — fourth highest in the country,” according to stats presented on the Boston Business Journal.

The full BBJ article can be found, here.

0 Plan Submitted for Site over Mass. Pike in Back Bay

Posted on November 24, 2014 by Wil Catlin

Developers continue to look for new sites and space above the Pike has is now entertaining a third developer. Office and retail rents are expected to continue to climb upward through 2015.

Credit: The Boston Globe

According to The Boston Globe, the third proposal entails building “student housing, a hotel, and retail space as part of a sweeping redevelopment of a state-owned parcel at the corner of Massachusetts Avenue and Boylston Street…Boston Residential Group’s plan calls for three buildings that would rise to 24 stories along Boylston Street. The complex would be linked to a nearby MBTA station and include a public rooftop garden.

More information is available on the Boston Globe website, here.