0 Franklin and Federal Street Office Buildings sell for for $177M

Posted on April 12, 2016 by Wil Catlin

70 Franklin St.

Office trades continue with the sale of 175 Federal Street and 70 Franklin Street to Deka Immobilien Investment GmbH’s of Germany in excess of $177 million.

According to multiple sources, Deka Immobilien has been tabbed as winning bidder on both assets, committing in excess of $135 million for 175 Federal St. and more than $42 million to secure the Franklin Street property which dates to 1910. The German-based sponsor of several open-end real estate funds buying on a global basis and with assets in the Northeast “definitely” has 175 Federal St. under agreement, one source insists, a notion supported by others, and the same entity has been named winning bidder for 70 Franklin St., multiple sources further maintain.

More information on both properties is available on The Real Reporter.

Additional Property Information
175 Federal Street office space
70 Franklin Street offices for lease

0 Global Report Indicates Majority of Offices Remain Old Fashioned

Posted on April 9, 2016 by Wil Catlin

Credit: Boston.com

Soft phone or tethered is a question that many new employees get on their first day on the job. The notion that today’s employee can operate effectively without defined hard space in the office is foreign to previous generations. The worker today might be employed by a company that exists in co-working space or by a company with an open seating plan.

What is your preferred work space?

From Boston.com:

A new Global Workplace Report by office furniture company Steelcase cited in a Boston.com article, which surveyed over 12,000 office workers in 17 countries, asked employees a variety of questions about how office space design affected their engagement with their work. Steelcase found that when it comes to technology updates and work environments, most companies are a long way off from having the office of the future…86 percent of workers said they had landline phones, and 80 percent had desktop computers.

As for office layout, only 23 percent of employees said their company had an open floor plan. Much more common were workspaces with a combination of open floor plan and individual offices, at 46 percent, while 31 percent of workers said their workplace only had individual offices.

You can read more on the Workplace report on Boston.com.

0 Prospective Developers Vying for Winthrop Square Location

Posted on March 21, 2016 by Wil Catlin

Credit: Curbed

These eight developers are jockeying for position for the Winthrop Square site in Boston:

Millennium Partners
Thomas O’Brien, a former director of the Boston Redevelopment Authority
Accordia Partners
Hudson Group North America
Trinity Acquisitions
The Fallon Company
Steven Belkin of Trans National Properties
Lincoln Property Co

For more information, Curbed Boston has a breakdown of all eight proposals.

0 South End Office Space Proposed atop Existing Garage

Posted on February 21, 2016 by Wil Catlin

Credit: Bizjournals.com

The new norm is ‘where can we build more options?’ 1000 Washington Street could be the new home of office space on top of the existing garage.

A BBJ report notes, “Nordblom Development Co. has proposed building the office space at 321 Harrison Ave., a parcel that’s adjacent to an existing 11-story office building and 300-space parking garage. The existing office, located at 1000 Washington St., is primarily leased by the commonwealth’s division of capital asset management and maintenance…Nordblom’s proposal states it would build the office as “an addition to the existing parking garage… with a new lobby and significant pedestrian realm improvements.” The project would take 60 spaces away from the garage.”

You can read the full BBJ article, here.

0 Top of the Hub Boston Names New Executive Chef

Posted on February 20, 2016 by Wil Catlin

Stefan Jarausch executive chef at Top of the Hub Boston

Credit: BBJ

Top of the Hub has a new man at the top. Surrounded by views of our city and beyond Chef Stefan Jarausch is looking to make not only the view memorable, but also the culinary experience.

According to the Boston Business Journal, Jarausch “was previously chef at Boston’s Fairmont Copley Plaza Hotel where he oversaw the development and transformation of the hotel’s Oak Long Bar & Kitchen. He most recently launched Seasons 52 in Burlington where he served as executive chef and partner.”

You can read more on the BBJ.

0 Winthrop Square Garage Project Faces Another Obstacle

Posted on February 11, 2016 by Wil Catlin

Credit: Boston Globe

The shuttered garage of Winthrop Square faces another hurdle in the quest for redevelopment.

According to the Boston Globe, “Shirley Kressel, filed [a] complaint Jan. 4 with the state attorney general [alleging] the city and its legal department have repeatedly violated municipal law in an effort to transfer the parking garage to the Boston Redevelopment Authority…Kressel is trying to block the transfer of the garage to the redevelopment authority because she fears the proceeds from the sale of taxpayer-owned land will go to the quasi-public agency. City councilors had an agreement with the redevelopment authority stipulating that the money would go into city coffers.”

You can read more on the latest hurdle facing the Winthrop Square redevelopment project on the Boston Globe’s website.

0 The Role of Acoustics in Commercial Design

Posted on February 11, 2016 by Wil Catlin

Meter to meaure acoustics of office space

Credit: Boston Globe

The average rentable square feet occupied per person has dropped as more companies offer an open work environments with break out rooms for meetings an personal calls. This has resulted in a new market for sound engineers trying to create the delicate balance of sound mitigation. Too many hard surfaces wont absorb sound so the engineers use technology to assist with this.

This is where a company like Acentech Inc. can help. A Cambridge acoustics consulting firm that was once part of the famed tech pioneer BBN Technologies, Acentech uses sophisticated computer-generated audio simulations called “auralizations” that make it possible to hear a building before workers ever break ground.

“Auralization is acoustic rendering,” said Matthew Azevedo, an Acentech engineer. “An architect would never tell a developer ‘Here’s the floor plan, just imagine what it’s going to look like.’ Well, we feel the same about acoustics.”

“Architects love these big, open spaces with lots of glass and exposed steel and all these wonderful hard surfaces,” Azevedo said. “Our job is to make it behave acoustically like a theater.”

You can read more about Acentech and acoustic engineering in Boston office development on the Boston Globe.

0 Seaport ‘sausage parcel’ at 399 Congress sells for $36M

Posted on February 11, 2016 by Wil Catlin

The sausage parcel in the Seaport sells for $36M. Where is this?

Credit: BBJ

According to the BBJ, “the 0.7-acre site at 399 Congress St. in Boston’s Seaport District…is a long, thinly shaped site — almost like a link of sausage — that’s sandwiched between the confluence of East Service Road, Congress Street and what’s now Boston Wharf Road in the Seaport.

You can read more about the Sausage Parcel site at 399 Congress on the Boston Business Journal, here.

Related Commercial Listings
Seaport Office Space

0 Groundbreaking Commences on ‘The Hub on Causeway’

Posted on February 9, 2016 by Wil Catlin

Credit: TD Garden

The North Station area of Boston shines bright with the groundbreaking by Delaware North and Boston Properties project.

According to TDGarden.com, “Delaware North and Boston Properties have formed a partnership to develop over 1.5 million square feet of mixed-use retail, office, hotel, residential and an expansion of TD Garden on the 2.5 acre site. This transit-oriented development is a significant investment that will bring substantial improvements to North Station, will create major economic impact for the area and strengthen the viability of this important district in the City of Boston.”

You can read the full article on TD.

0 Boston Tops List of ‘Most Innovative States in America’

Posted on January 20, 2016 by Wil Catlin

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts packs a powerful punch when you combined education and innovation. Our state is number one in both of those categories, which is why we are a hotbed of new and expanding business across the state.

According to Bloomberg, “the Boston area’s Route 128 eked out a victory over Silicon Valley, as Bloomberg’s ranking of the most innovative states in the U.S. illustrates how universities can juice local economies…The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Behravesh’s alma mater, is one such school that’s provided a ripple effect for the local economy…MIT graduates have produced around 400 startup businesses over the past few decades.”

You can read the full Bloomberg article on its website.

Credit: Bloomberg