0 Law firm to move out of One Post Office Square, citing renovation work

The biggest isn’t always the best.  Fortunately, Boston is chock-full of great work space. What strategies are you solving for & how can we help?

Law firm to move out of One Post Office Square, citing renovation work

One Post Office Square in Boston.
W. MARC BERNSAU

By   – Law and Money Reporter, Boston Business Journal 

Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP plans to move its Boston office to One Financial Center next year, in part to avoid the disruption caused by construction in its current home at One Post Office Square, according to its local managing partner.

The South Carolina-based law firm is taking approximately 43,000 square feet on the 35th and 36th floors of One Financial, the office tower across Atlantic Avenue from South Station, said Peter Haley, the firm’s leader in Boston.

It’s about the same amount of space that it currently occupies at One Post Office Square, where it’s been for most of the decade-plus it’s been in the Boston market. But the Post Office Square building is undergoing a major renovation, including a new-look glass exterior, a large-scale interior makeover, and a significant expansion of rentable space. The project is being co-developed by JLL and Anchorline Partners.

According to Haley, had Nelson Mullins stayed in Post Office Square, it would have needed to move at least once, and perhaps twice, within the building over the short term to accommodate the makeover. The firm’s leaders were wary of that level of disruption. JLL “was great” about trying to find a solution, but the firm “couldn’t quite find something that was right for us,” Haley said.

Nelson Mullins expects to move into One Financial in 2020, potentially in August. Haley anticipates the new space will have about 65 offices, with a more efficient, glass-filled floor plan compared to its current location.

The law firm’s local headcount has changed significantly in recent years. In early 2015, it had 60 attorneys in Boston, but by the next year that figure had dropped to 35 after teams of attorneys left for K&L Gates LLP and LeClairRyan PC.

Since then, however, Haley and the firm’s leadership have been aggressive about wooing partners from other Boston law offices. Its local headcount is back up to 53, according to Haley. The new recruits hail from a variety of firms and practice areas: This year alone, its additions include intellectual property attorneys from Pepper Hamilton LLP and Mintz and a litigator from State Street Corp.

“We’ve had a nice ability to attract lawyers from around the city,” Haley said.

That level of growth is reflected in the firm’s recent financials. In 2014, its $298 million in revenue put it outside the 100 highest-grossing law firms in the U.S., according to American Lawyer Media data. In 2018, it grossed more than $400 million across its more than 20 offices, earning it a ranking as No. 87 in the country.

The new address and new names aren’t the only changes coming to Nelson Mullins. Later this month, Haley is stepping down as office managing partner in favor of his colleague, Brian Moore. Haley has been the office’s leader since 2013 and felt a change in leadership would be good for the future of the firm. He plans to return to his practice full-time, although he will hold onto some managerial responsibilities at the firmwide level.

“The turnover’s very helpful in terms of developing and building leadership within the office,” he said. “Just having one person staying there for 10 or 15 years, I think you miss out on opportunities to build future leaders.”

0 Empty store space in Downtown Crossing may become offices

Does the Amazon effect play into retail vacancy in Boston?  We, in short yes.  How we shop and what we shop for online has changed and will continue to do so.  Retail is still vibrant and strong, but not all retail spaces are created equal.  Some historical retails spaces are better suited for office which in part has to do their size and proximity to public transit.

An example of this transformation is the Cambridge Side Galleria Mall in the East Cambridge.  The red hot Kendal office and lab market will continue to gobble up under performing assets.

An empty storefront near 560 Washington St.

By Tim Logan GLOBE STAFF  APRIL 12, 2019

One of the biggest retail spaces in Downtown Crossing may soon become home to offices.

The Boston Planning & Development Agency on Thursday approved plans by the owner of Lafayette City Center to convert much of its long-empty ground floor into office space, perhaps to house the state agency that handles workers’ compensation claims.

The move by veteran Boston developers The Abbey Group highlights the soft market for large-format retailers as they face mounting online competition. The change also has something to do with the particular quirks of the building, which was built in the 1980s as the inward-facing Lafayette Place Mall before being repositioned as storefronts with office space above.

The proposed change also is raising concerns in some quarters about a block and a half of Washington Street in the busy shopping district being converted to office space.

Much of the building’s ground floor — about 75,000 square feet — has been empty for at least 15 years. The last sizable tenant, an Eddie Bauer outlet store, closed in early 2016. Abbey and its brokers have struggled to fill the space. Among other challenges, the first floor is as much as 7 feet higher than street level in places — a design quirk of the old indoor mall and its underground garage.

“We think of ourselves as creative developers who apply innovative thinking to problems like this,” Abbey chief operating officer David Epstein said. “It simply isn’t feasible” to use the space for retail, he said.

 

But Abbey has leased more than 500,000 square feet of office space on the floors above street level, mostly to tech companies. When the state began looking for 33,700 square feet to house its Division of Industrial Accidents — which needs to move out of the Government Center Garage ahead of a redevelopment there — Abbey offered up the ground floor.

A spokesman for the state’s real estate agency said it received five proposals for the office, including Lafayette Center. A final decision has not been made, he said.

Workers’ compensation courtrooms may not be the sort of retail and restaurant Downtown Crossing is known for, but it fits with other legal offices around the neighborhood, said Rosemarie Sansone, president of the Downtown Boston Business Improvement District.

“This place has been empty for 20 years,” she said. “They found an unusual and interesting use for it. This is all good.”

Still, the shift comes as several key locations sit empty along Washington Street, from Lafayette Center to the long-shuttered Barnes & Noble (which is now being renovated by a new owner) to a cluster of empty storefronts at Washington and Bromfield streets that have been largely dark since plans to build a skyscraper there stalled in 2016.

Sansone acknowledged the empty buildings but also noted that several restaurants and stores have opened in and around Downtown Crossing in recent years. Building owners and the BID, she said, are aiming to bring in more retailers to cater to residents and workers who fill nearby office towers, including a day care center, pet stores, and more home goods stores. She also said Trader Joe’s is considering opening a grocery store in the neighborhood, though a Trader Joe’s spokeswoman would not confirm that.

 

Some landlords on Washington Street, Sansone said, are being patient, waiting for the right tenant.

“There have been some deliberate attempts to make sure that whatever comes is going to be successful, that it’s what people want,” she said.

One BPDA board member Thursday asked Epstein about the wisdom of leaving retail space like Lafayette Center vacant for years, especially given the effect on foot traffic for neighboring businesses.

“It’s a form of job destruction,” Carol Downs said. “I don’t really understand why this space was let to stay empty for so long.”

Epstein said the market has shifted away from the larger-format retailers it originally envisioned would lease at Lafayette City Center, and the technical challenges of opening in the building were too great for smaller stores. Filling two-thirds of the long empty storefront with office workers will bring foot traffic and, he hopes, will make it easier to rent the rest of the vacant space.

“We’re excited about the prospect,” Epstein said.

Tim Logan can be reached at tim.logan@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter at @bytimlogan.

0 Boston Real Estate Continues to Battle Height Restrictions

Tallest office buildings in Boston

Credit: Boston Globe

The city of Boston will no doubt entertain towers that exceed the 790-feet of 200 Clarendon Street, formerly known as the John Hancock Tower.

The location of Boston’s next tallest tower will most likely fall in the Back Bay neighborhood. This is due to the restriction imposed by the FAA from the Seaport and Financial District, as well as the shadow effect on Boston Common in the Mid-Town area.

According to the Boston Globe, “many Bostonians have come to love the relatively modest scale of the city’s neighborhoods. That affection surfaces every time someone proposes a building of substantial height. Invariably, issues like shadows and wind are raised.

‘Our neighborhoods, from the North End to the Back Bay to the South End, are full of people who love living in what appears to be a 19th-century community,” said Robert Brown, managing director at architecture firm Perkins+Will. “To them, tall buildings mean more density, more parking, more shadow.’”

Related Real Estate
Back Bay Office Space for Lease
• Boston Financial District Real Estate

0 Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street

Boston Realty Advisors represented Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street search for a new location in the Financial District. According to Wil Catlin, Managing Principal at Boston Realty Advisors, 177 Milk Street was the perfect fit for Chris’s new venture. The building known as the Grain Exchange was completed in 1892 and sits one South from the Custom House on the Greenway. The space occupied by Milk Street is on the retail level with direct access from India Street with expansive ceilings and windows.

Client Testimonial Tenant Representation from Boston Realty Advisors on Vimeo.

0 1 Federal Street Goes up for Sale

Financial district office building at 1 Federal st.

1 Federal Street in Boston’s Financial District

1 Federal Street is headed for the sales block by Eastdil Secured. The building is expected to trade in excess of $682 per square foot.

According to Realert, “the 38-story tower is 98% occupied, with a weighted average remaining lease term of almost seven years. The largest tenant, law firm Morgan Lewis, occupies 301,000 sf on a lease that runs until 2023. Records-management company Iron Mountain is leasing 133,000 sf until 2024. Others tenants include Credit Suisse, J.P. Morgan, Oppenheimer & Co. and U.S. Bank.”

Additional information is available on realert.

0 Clover Restaurant’s Flagship location Showcases CEO’s Office

Clover restaurant Boston

Credit: Boston Business Journal

Ayr Muir, the founder and CEO of Clover wants to be in the middle if it all, choosing to put his office in the center of the flagship location at 160 Federal Street in the Financial District of Boston.

According to Bizjournals’ Boston publication, “it’s a move that likely has its roots in the transparency that Muir has been espousing since he opened the business in 2008 as a single food truck. The company’s employee handbook is posted online and mentions that ‘we’re going to ask you to learn (and help us learn) from EVERY SINGLE mistake you make. We love NEW MISTAKES, but we hate seeing the same mistakes again and again.’ Clover, which specializes in using data to track customer behavior and modify menu items, currently has nine locations in the Boston area.”

You can read more on Clover’s flagship location, here.