0 Price of Office Space in Boston’s Innovation District Still Climbing

Posted on January 16, 2014 by Wil Catlin

How expensive is the Innovation Districtt? Well, Boston’s Innovation District has pulled neck-and-neck with Back Bay. The Innovation District has benefited from a tremendous influx of tenants that could no longer afford East Cambridge and Kendall Square. Now with prices at or above pre-crash levels, the value play is within the low-rise Class A and Class B office space in the Financial District.

Office space in Boston's Innovation district and Back Bay

Credit: Boston Globe

A managing director at Cassidy Turley, David Campbell, recently commented to the Boston Globe, “the Innovation District has offered the most obvious place for the city to grow…the Big Dig and the convention center and the Ted Williams Tunnel have really made it fertile ground for future development.”

More from Campbell is available in the full article, on the Boston Globe’s website.

0 Boston’s Startup Growth Expected to Continue in 2014

Posted on January 8, 2014 by Wil Catlin

Credit: Boston.com

Startups continue to be the focus for 2014. The Boston office market has seen rents continue to rise within the Class B market – space that is favored by newly-funded startups. Buildings that are poised to offer newly built out space within the redeveloped Downtown Crossing are Druker’s 373 Washington Street with some floors at 4,524 rentable square feet. This becomes a perfect size as groups graduate from the CIC or Space with a Soul and establish their own home.

Boston.com published its expectations for the new year:

Coming in 2014: Kayak co-founder Paul English opens a new incubator/nightclub/exhibition space on Summer Street called Blade. WeWork, a nationwide network of co-working spaces, is planning two Boston locations, both near South Station, on opposite sides of Fort Point Channel. TechStars Boston is moving from Cambridge to Boston, as I first reported in October, to space on Lincoln Street in the Leather District.

The full article is posted on Boston.com

0 Real Estate Advice for Funded Entrepreneurs

Posted on January 8, 2014 by Wil Catlin

My role is to assist companies navigating through their real estate requirements. Many times I hear, “we just closed on our recent round and we can’t commit to a 5 year term lease, we don’t know where we will be in 18 months.” This is so true, part of my process is matching the best landlords with a tenant’s project growth.

Do you know what makes the best landlord for you?

0 The Block on Congress Reinvented

Posted on January 8, 2014 by Wil Catlin

Credit: Boston Herald

An era gone by, no longer will the Fidelity sign hang at 82 Devonshire Street. Related Beal acquired the 343,000 square foot portfolio and is in the process of reviewing plans to revitalize the retail storefronts. Boston developer Related Beal has acquired a five-building portfolio in the Financial District from Fidelity Investments with plans to upgrade its office and retail space.

Stephen Faber, executive vice president of Related Beal, commented on the opportunity in an article on Banker & Tradesman’s website:

“Rarely do you have the opportunity to reposition and reinvent an entire city block, especially one in the heart of downtown Boston,”

The full article is available, here.

0 Boston Office Market Transitions out of Recovery

Posted on January 8, 2014 by Wil Catlin

The Boston office market is in a state of recovery and rents are continuing upward. Within the Class B market, Boston is experiencing reduced vacancy as companies are continuing to seek out value options. Buildings in the Downtown Crossing Class B market have seen strong rent growth in 2013 and are now priced in the low $30’s PSF.

According to the BBJ “the overall amount of available space [in Boston], including sublease space, rose to 18.3 percent in Q4, up from 16.7 in Q4 of 2012. That change reflects nearly 300,000 square feet of negative absorption.”

Additional information is available on the Boston Business Journal website.

0 Boston Office Market Shifts to the Financial District

Posted on January 8, 2014 by Wil Catlin

The Downtown Boston Office Market continues to be strong as firms seek better value options than the high-priced Seaport or Back Bay submarkets. Pricing in the Class B market is still in the low-to-mid $30’s PSF downtown, while the Seaport has pushed into the low to mid $40’s.

B&T recently reported that “the popularity of the Seaport and Back Bay, where office building vacancy rates have been at historical lows in recent months, has been a boon to the city’s traditionally staid, button-down financial center, where younger and tech-related firms have opened up shop.”

Additional information is available on the Banker & Tradesman website.

0 Downtown Crossing: Strong Value for Class B Office Space in Boston

Posted on December 23, 2013 by Wil Catlin

Where are the value options for a Class B tenant in Boston? Current market data shows that Downtown Crossing has it. Seaport rents have pushed into the low to mid $40’s PSF with limited supply. Options within downtown crossing can still be found with pricing in the mid to upper $20’s depend on building amenities and tenant improvement needs.

Check out our office space in Downtown Crossing listings to determine if the pricing and available options are right for your business needs.

0 51 Sleeper Street in the Seaport District Sells for $60.2 million

Posted on December 18, 2013 by Wil Catlin

Credit: Boston Business Journal

The rents in the Seaport/Innovation District continue to climb. Recently the Class B renewals have pushed to $45 PSF, with that in mind we have a record trade of $60.2 million or $400 PSF.

From the BBJ:

TIAA-CREF has acquired 51 Sleeper St. in Boston’s Seaport for $60.2 million, setting a record sale price for the city’s burgeoning Innovation District of roughly $400 per square foot.

The full article is available on the Boston Business Journal.

0 Boutique Buildings Growing in Boston

Posted on December 18, 2013 by Wil Catlin

Not all new construction project are towers. Some are boutique buildings designed to blend into their surroundings and fit on a much smaller footprint.

A boutique building recently highlighted on the Boston Herald’s website is Zero Farnsworth. The Herald notes, “in a smaller-scale building you can pay much more attention to the quality of the design and the details,” said Damian Szary, a principal at Boston-based Redgate Real Estate Advisors, whose Gate Residential unit is developing a nine-story condo complex along Congress and Farnsworth streets in the booming Seaport District. With its floor-to-ceiling glass windows all around, Zero Farnsworth will be strikingly contemporary in an area of brick warehouses.”

The full Herald article is available on BostonHerald.com.

0 Is Boston the New Innovation Hub?

Posted on December 18, 2013 by Wil Catlin

Credit: Bostinno.Streetwise.co

Is downtown Boston the new innovation district? Well, yes it is. Downtown Boston holds some of the components critical to an emerging companies success. First is access; the famed Red Line is what is most widely discussed. It provides that vital link from Harvard and MIT to the North while offering a stop at South Station, which is the largest commuter hub.

From our internal data, the Downtown Crossing Market offers the last great value option for tenants. This is being driven up by the lack of opportunities in the Seaport, Kendall and Back Bay.

According to bostinno.streetwise.co, “now that the rents are creeping upwards both around Kendall and Harvard Square and the Innovation District, entrepreneurs – and a few of the organizations that cater to them – seem to be settling in Downtown Boston.”

To read more about this trend, follow the link to Bostinno.