0 State Street Tower Offered to Public

Posted on May 12, 2015 by Wil Catlin

Credit: Boston Globe

Office buildings are trading at records levels and the influx of capital into Boston shows no sign of letting up. 1 Lincoln Street which is home to State Street is offering a new twist, you can own a piece.

From the Boston Globe:

[The] venture led by Fortis Property Group of New York, which bought the 1.1-million-square-foot tower for just under $900 million in 2006, would sell a 48.88 percent interest in the building through a real estate investment trust called ETRE REIT, according to documents that were filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

In the documents, ETRE said the State Street tower, built in 2003 and fully occupied by State Street Corp., is currently valued at $1.1 billion.

The move to hold a public stock offering for the building is the idea of ETRE Financial LLC, founded three years ago with the purpose of “facilitating the public listing of individual real estate assets to improve access, liquidity, and transparency in commercial real estate,” according to its website.

0 Boston Startup moves from Cambridge to Newbury Street to Expand Workforce

Posted on May 12, 2015 by Wil Catlin

Bridj is on the move and parked on Newbury Street. 283/285 Newbury Street offered an experience that aligned well with vision of Matt George, Bridj founder and CEO. Off street parking, roof deck and 3 floors of creative space.

Credit: BBJ

Bridj has elected to share this experience through Pivotdesk, have a look and see if it works for your growing team.

From the Boston Business Journal:

The company moved out of a co-working space at the Cambridge Innovation Center into a 5,400-square-foot space at 283 Newbury St. in Boston earlier this year.

“We were outgrowing the CIC and while co-working spaces are great and they have lots of benefits and amenities, it’s really hard to start building your own culture (there),” said Ryan Kelly, Bridj’s marketing manager.

0 Boston On demand Office Space

Posted on May 7, 2015 by Wil Catlin

I was first introduced to Breather from Will Preap who is the head of Breather’s business development for Boston and got the concept. The notion that I could have a private meeting/interview in a space outside of the public eye was captivating. Preap has strong roots to Boston and expects to add 30 location throughout the CBD. So, questions I get from landlords are, is it safe? Yes, Breather controls access to the space via a smart phone app. Prior to getting access, Breather understands the clients social footprint using algorithms that access social media sites to better understand the profile. Once you have selected the Breather spot you get to the door and Breather provides a one-time access code to the app. You enter and you meeting commences. The space is fitted out with smart phone chargers wrapped in a sophisticated yet relaxed atmosphere complete with WIFI.

The meeting ends and you depart, yes, Breather knows. Breather then sends their team back into the space to ensure it is ready to go for the next client.

Pictured above is Justin Harlow of BRA’s Downtown team @ 715 Boylston Street.

0 115 Winthrop Square Considered for Boston’s Second-Tallest Building

Posted on April 27, 2015 by Wil Catlin

Credit: Banker&Tradesman

The Boston skyline is poised to see significant change of the next five years as projects that are under construction come online. 115 Winthrop Square is getting attention and might be home to Boston’s second tallest building if O’Brien has anything to do with it.

According to Banker&Tradesman, “developer Thomas O’Brien of Boston-based HYM Investments is proposing a 69-story, 780-foot-tall residential tower that would become the city’s second-tallest building, just 10 feet shy of the Hancock Tower…O’Brien was one of eight developers who submitted proposals to build a skyscraper in the Financial District. The Boston Redevelopment Authority sought proposals for a one-acre parcel currently occupied by the municipal garage at 115 Winthrop Square. O’Brien’s plan calls for a substantial redevelopment of the square, including a new Boston public school and a relocated St. Anthony Shrine, friary and ministry center. Under the O’Brien proposal, the church properties and school would be built on the former garage site and a residential tower with 11,000-square-foot floor plates would be built on the former shrine property.”

The HYM Investment Group can be seen, here.

0 Epstein’s Instructive Strategy for Transforming Downtown Boston

Posted on April 27, 2015 by Wil Catlin

Credit: bisnow

Bob Epstein can teach us a few things about remaking duds into destinations. Lafayette Center was that dud that wasn’t getting any airtime from prospective tenants, despite location, large floor plates and infrastructure.

“At Lafayette City Center, they also saw a property with ‘good bones and upside potential. It has high, 14-foot to 17-foot ceilings, expansive column spacing of 30 feet by 36 feet and big windows. As the downtown vacancy rate falls, rents are rising but Downtown Crossing is reasonably priced, Tom tells us. Its rents in the high $30s/SF to $40s/SF compare well to Back Bay rents in the $50s/SF and Cambridge hitting the $60s/SF. Downtown Crossing is still a value play. But back in 2002, Abbey Group saw that it—like Fenway in the ‘90s and Back Bay in the ‘70s—was undervalued,” according to a Bisnow editorial.

The full Bisnow article is available on its website.

0 50 Post Office Square in Boston Hits the Market

Posted on April 27, 2015 by Wil Catlin

Credit: The Real Reporter

50 Post Office Square is coming to market and could reap $300 million. The building last traded for $192 million ($245.43/SF) on 9/29/08. The new sales number would put this at $383.48/SF. The current ownership has done a remarkable job not only repositioning the asset, but leasing it up as well. Of the 782,304 total square feet there is only 118,500 square feet available on the 5th and 6th floors.

From the Real Reporter:

Besides the current investment climate that has Boston among the most popular destinations for institutional and foreign capital, observers claim the move is likely a combination of the natural life cycle of the landlord’s tenure in the property that began in Oct. 2008 when the 600,000-sf structure was acquired for $192 million with partner Commonwealth Ventures. “They figure this is the right time to do it,” says the source who praises Bentall and CV for repositioning an Art Deco building dating to 1948 that was badly in need of an overhaul when the asset previously known as 185 Franklin St. was offered up for sale by Verizon.

0 Parking App Gains Traction in Boston

Posted on April 27, 2015 by Wil Catlin

Credit: Boston Business Journal

Parking in Boston: we need and it and it can be hard to find and expensive. Spot Park puts private parking space owners in touch with those looking to rent them and charges a 15% fee. Boston has been the pilot city and having just raised under $1M Spot Park will be expanding to 7 other U.S. cities.

Founder and CEO Braden Golub notes in the Boston Business Journal that Spot Park “‘now has 14,000 Boston users…this is a perfect test market for us, because Boston is notoriously difficult to find parking in,’ Golub said in an interview. ‘We think if we can make it work here, we can make it work in other cities’…Through its mobile app, the company allows drivers to book and pay for hundreds of Boston-area parking spots available from homeowners and apartment-renters. Spot Park takes a 15 percent cut off of every transaction.”

You can read the full article on the BBJ, here.

0 Boston Greenway will Influence Nearby Office Design

Posted on April 20, 2015 by Wil Catlin

Boston’s Greenway transcends the city’s current incarnation, and will continue to benefit from times gone by. Surrounding buildings will need to create access points to invite visitors to directly access the park and highlight the lush Greenway landscape.

Credit: Bostinno.Streetwise

Bostinno.Streetwise articulates how the city’s architecture can grow to accentuate the Greenway in the coming years:

This beautiful Greenway carved through the heart of downtown Boston, building owners, architects and developers should really be thinking about repositioning the front of their buildings toward the “center.” If you walk down the 1.5-acre strip, you will notice that many of the buildings’ entrances are facing opposite the park toward the dark “maze of streets,” limiting options for retail, hospitality and ultimately commerce along this central corridor.

If we turned these buildings around, similar to what happened in P.O. Square and the projects we completed there, the 1 P.O. Square and 225 Franklin Street lobbies, the Greenway could serve as a grassy green extension of our workplace’s front porch.

You can read the full editorial on Bostinno.Streetwise.co.

0 10 High Street is home to new food venue, Serafina

Posted on April 20, 2015 by Wil Catlin

Credit: Boston.Eater

New food venue, Serafina, is destined for High Street in Boston. 10 High Street is an 88,000 square foot building with 11 stories. The building is owned by Farley White Interests LLC which is a regional landlord which is also headquartered at 10 High Street. Typical foor size is 7,051 square feet and was built in 1917 and renovated in 1988. According to CoStar some of the tenant incude:

New England College of Business and Finance
Urbelis & Fieldsteel, LLP
Starpoint Solutions
Savings Bank of Maine Inc
BBIX

You can read more about the new Serafina on High Street on Boston.eater.com.

0 Boston Developers Contending for Financial District Tower

Posted on April 20, 2015 by Wil Catlin

new Boston office tower financial district

Rendering of Accordia Partners’ proposed tower. Credit: Boston Globe

The shuttered garage that falls between Devonshire and Federal Street in the core of Boston’s Financial District shines brightly as an opportunity for eight suitors to make their mark on the Boston Skyline. Tenants in recent quarters have flocked Downtown to take advantage of value rents and infrastructure driving office vacancy down to 10 percent.

The Boston Globe details the eight developers “have filed proposals for a skyscraper, several of which would be nearly as tall as the city’s largest, the Hancock Tower, on the site of a city-owned parking garage that is now closed. The competitors include a who’s who of local and national developers, a measure of how strong Boston’s real estate market has become…If approved, the Winthrop Square project would add another tower to the fast-changing Boston skyline. Already, five towers over 600 feet are proposed or are being built while other large complexes are under development downtown.”

You can read the full article on the Globe website