0 BRA Approves Six Office Building Projects in Boston

Posted on July 27, 2015 by Wil Catlin

Credit: Boston Globe

Six buildings in Boston’s Financial District, Congress Square, are set for complete renovation by Related Beal.

According to the Boston Globe, the BRA approved six projects in total, “the agency gave the go-ahead to some $515.6 million in development…One of the biggest projects is Congress Square, the renovation of an entire city block of buildings in the Financial District, between Congress and Water streets. Developer Related Beal plans to turn six office buildings into a boutique hotel, new housing, and office space…Also approved was Clippership Wharf, which would put 492 apartments and condos on 12 acres on the waterfront in East Boston. Developer Lend Lease plans to move forward on the long-stalled project and won approval to add housing units and subtract parking spaces from a plan approved in 2003.”

You can read the full article on the Boston Globe, here.

0 Boston High-Rise Office Space: Rents Exceeding $90 per sq. foot

Posted on July 20, 2015 by Wil Catlin

Credit: Bizjournals.com

Boston office rents continue to grow as tenants continue to migrate to downtown Boston high-rise office buildings.

From the Boston Business Journal:

Low-rise and Class B offices are now commanding rents in the mid- to upper $40s range, while high-rise rents are reaching well past the $90 per square foot range, according to second-quarter research from commercial real estate services firm DTZ. Class B office rents are up 21 percent from last year in the Financial District, 12 percent in the North Station region and 20 percent in South Station, DTZ said.

“It’s also worth noting that nearly 25 percent of Boston’s office inventory has traded hands in the past 12 months,” the research report said.
Meanwhile, Cambridge also maintained its post as the strongest real estate market in Massachusetts, with $2.2 billion in sales activity. That’s more than half of the overall $4 billion in total sales volume so far this year, according to recently released second-quarter research from JLL..Direct average rents rose more than 5 percent year-over-year in nine out of 12 of Boston’s submarkets, topping out with 16.3 percent growth in East Cambridge.

0 Two Office Buildings in Back Bay Listed for $1.5 billion

Posted on June 10, 2015 by Wil Catlin

Boylston Street commercial real estate Back Bay

Credit: Boston Globe

The Boston commercial real estate market continues northward with no signs of letting up. 222 Berkeley Street and 500 Boylston Street are set move in a record trade at over $1,150 per square foot.

From the Boston Globe:

The buildings total about 1.3 million square feet in size. A sale for $1.5 billion would put the price at nearly $1,150 per square foot, far higher than the selling prices of other commercial properties in Boston’s key business districts, which rarely top $700 per square foot…The Back Bay buildings are owned by a Blackstone subsidiary, Equity Office Properties, and share an underground parking garage. They are near the Public Garden, the Orange Line and commuter rail trains at Back Bay Station, and dozens of high-end retail shops.

0 Is Boston an Architectural Eyesore?

Posted on May 27, 2015 by Wil Catlin

Office Building in Back Bay at 111 Huntington Ave.

No Boston isn’t ugly and as a matter of fact, it’s beautiful. Opinions are just that, opinions and each of us are allowed to express ours despite who it might offend.

Boston Magazine has a strong one, noting “the dirty little secret behind Boston’s building boom is that it’s profoundly banal—designed without any imagination, straight out of the box, built to please banks rather than people…Renderings of 30 Dalton show how its panel-and-glass motif will create a relentless gridded box of windows from floor to sky: Click, copy, and paste. A few weeks after 30 Dalton’s miniature arrived on the site, the backhoes arrived to carve a foundation out of what had been a parking lot. A few feet away, the old brownstones of St. Germain Street—the ghosts of Boston’s long-lost architectural ambitions—hunkered down in 19th-century resignation.”

We must, however, remind everyone that the office market today is vastly different from decades past. Today’s tenant wants floor to ceiling light with as many corners on each floor. 111 Huntington Avenue is one most sought after address’s in Back Bay with its efficient floor plates combined with abundant amenities.

The only space available is a sublease on the 5th floor, so from Boston Properties’ perspective, the building is fully leased.

0 Boston Office Rents Expected to Rise through 2017

Posted on May 12, 2015 by Wil Catlin

Boston office rents continue to rise, and are expected to climb through 2017. What can you do to hedge your risk against leasing in the top of the market? Understand what you need and engage an advisor.

The BBJ notes, “Boston can expect its asking rental rate increase to average 10.1 percent per year during that timeframe…The office market in Boston’s central business district averaged a $46.60 per-square-foot rental rate last year…[with estimates for] those rates to increase to $52.83 by 2015, $59.48 by 2016 and $62.09 by 2017.”

You can read the complete article on the Boston Business Journal, here.

0 On-demand Meeting Rooms in Boston

Posted on May 7, 2015 by Wil Catlin

So, it is best described as office space between Starbucks and any number of the temporary groups that provide contractual services for office space. Breather is space for only when you need it. Imagine that you are interviewing a person that will be replacing a person on your team. The last thing you would want to do is have that meeting internally, you could go to Starbucks, but you might get seen by a coworker. Now come breather, have a meeting in a private space within close proximately to your office and schedule the space for 30 minutes. Best of all, its done from your phone. Boston Realty Advisors has been assisting Breather find new spots in the city.

Credit: bizjournals.com

From the Boston Business Journal:

Bostonians will now have access to five private spaces in the Back Bay and Cambridge area with a tap of their phones, with [Breather] locations that include: 715 Boylston St., two spaces at 36 Gloucester Street, and two spaces at 1158 Mass. Ave. in Harvard Square.

0 Boylston Street Filling with Consumer Tech Storefronts

Posted on April 1, 2015 by Wil Catlin

Credit: BBJ

Not only does the Boston Marathon run down Boylston Street, but now that is followed by every tech consumer. Boylston Street is home to the newly opened Verizon mega store at 745 Boylston Street. The next block over at 699 Boylston Street is home to the AT&T mega store. AT&T and Verizon followed the leader, Apple which opened at 815 Boylston Street and Microsoft which is in the Prudential complex at 800 Boylston Street. Need a gadget or some tech support? It can all be had on Boylston between 699 & 800 Boylston Street.

The BBJ summarizes the recent additions, noting “Verizon [is] opening up a superstore on Boylston Street in Boston’s Back Bay later this month. Now today, it’s AT&T that says it’s going to open a 9,000-square-foot store at 699 Boylston, not too far away from the Verizon superstore, which is at 745 Boylston…Both stores show how much Apple has changed the retail experience” in the Back Bay.

You can read more on the Boston Business Journal.

Related Listings
Back Bay office space

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 Boston Office Market Ranks Third In Global Rent Growth

Posted on March 10, 2015 by Wil Catlin

view of Boston's office buildings over the water

Credit: Banker&Tradesman

Boston is 3rd in office rent growth for 2014 behind Singapore and San Francisco. The factors that drive Boston are the innovative economy and the extensive university presence. The YE Market Report (link below) goes through the Downtown Class B office market fundamentals.

“According to Banker&Tradesman, Boston ranked first globally with a 34.6-percent increase in capital value growth. Foreign investors drove up prices of the Boston region’s commercial real estate, with investors such as Toronto-based Oxford Properties Group and Norges Bank Investment Management buying trophy office buildings in Boston and Cambridge. The index is designed to identify which cities are changing the fastest by combining real estate data with socioeconomic factors.”

You can download a pdf of the report here: http://www.bostonrealestates.com/reports/year-end-2014/Downtown/YE-MarketReport-Downtown-lo.pdf

0 Boston Office Market Continues to Soar

Posted on February 12, 2015 by Wil Catlin

Credit: Nerej.com

Rents are on the move, upward and don’t see any signs of letting up. Class B product in the Downtown Crossing (DTX) area of the city have seen increases from the high $20’s a couple of years ago to the low $40’s. Future predictions expect the 2016 levels to surpass the 2000 and 2007 markets peaks.

Nerej.com notes, “the city of Boston office market is absolutely exploding. 1.72 million s/f of office space was absorbed in 2014, 35% more than in 2013, and 50% more than in 2012. What statistics do not show is that Boston as a city has $110 billion in total assessed value for all its properties; $4 billion in new construction breaking ground, 4,500 current job openings and 44 tech IPO’s in the pipeline. 50% of total absorption in 2014 was urban migration from the suburbs. As of the start of 2015, there are 222,000 s/f of tenants in the market for downtown space alone.

You can read more about the Boston Office Market explosion on Nerej.com.