0 Storm-Resistant AquaFence will Shield Atlantic Wharf Building

Posted on April 1, 2015 by Wil Catlin

flood protection around Atlantic Wharf building in Boston financial district

Credit: WGBH

I must admit I have never heard of this, AquaFence. Boston Properties the owner of Atlantic Wharf at 280 Congress is on the forefront of flood prevention.

A WGBH news article describes the AquaFence; “when it’s assembled, an AquaFence turns a single building into something like a walled city, with one big difference: the side of the wall facing out — toward the encroaching storm water — is connected to a series of panels that lie on the ground. Atlantic Wharf’s property manager, Barrett Cooke, says floodwater is supposed to cover those panels on the ground, weighing them down and strengthening the whole AquaFence.”

Some of the tenants for 280 Congress Street are:

• Wellington Financial
• McKinsey
• TripAdvisor
• Raptor Group

0 Boston Cares Relocating to 90 Canal St.

Posted on March 26, 2015 by Wil Catlin

90 Canal Street

Bonny Doorakian, Robert LeClair and Wil Catlin of Boston Realty Advisors represented the landlord, 90 Canal Street, LLC in the leasing of 3,019 square feet to Boston Cares.

From Banker&Tradesman:

“Boston Cares, New England’s largest volunteer nonprofit agency, has signed a lease for 5,043 square feet at 90 Canal St. and will relocate its headquarters in April from 190 High St. in Boston’s Financial District…The long-term lease represents a 3,019-square-foot expansion for the organization, which mobilizes more than 25,000 volunteers in support of 165 nonprofit, school and public programs.”

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.

0 Residential Tower Planned for Greenway

Posted on February 12, 2015 by Wil Catlin

Credit: BBJ

A new residential mid-rise is coming to Broad Street on the Greenway, included in the project will be a street level café and 52 residential units. What’s going away? The Times Irish Pub & Restaurant.

The BBJ notes the “project would create 175 construction jobs. If approved by the BRA, construction would begin this summer and wrap up in winter 2016…The proposed 110 Broad St. project is located adjacent to 55 India St., a surface parking lot which is the site of a planned $45 million, 12-story, 44-unit condominium tower with ground-floor retail tower that’s been approved by the BRA.”

You can find the full article on the Boston Business Journal, here.

0 South End 200-room Hotel Proposed Near Ink Block

Posted on February 11, 2015 by Wil Catlin

Boston’s hotel community is hoping to welcome a new player to the scene, AC Marriot. The brand has started in Europe and has recently expanded into the U.S. market. If you are thinking about where your clients will stay when visiting your office, the following map outlines a 15 minute walk to the new proposed hotel.

Credit: InkBlockBoston

The Boston Globe indicates, if approved, “the six-story AC Marriott would be on Albany Street, adjacent to the Ink Block site. It would replace a pair of low-slung brick buildings that formerly housed offices for Independent Taxi and F.W. Webb…The company wants to start construction in the fall, with the hotel’s opening scheduled for early 2017.”

You can read more on the Boston Globe’s website.

0 Boston Snow-clearing Progress Available Online

Posted on February 11, 2015 by Wil Catlin

The calendar has turned to February and we are in the midpoint of winter. When you consider a location for your new office you might want to check and make sure the address gets good service by the City of Boston Department of Public Works. You can also check out a new site, Snow Stats, that allows the city to post snow clearing activity. The site is by no means a snow-cam mounted on the front of the truck looking at what needs to be plowed, and a camera on the back looking at the results, but it is a start.

Credit: snowstats.boston.gov

According to the Boston Business Journal, “Snow Stats, officially launched by the city on Monday during the second big snowstorm in as many weeks, allows residents to monitor Boston’s snow operations including an overview of the season showing the total miles and hours plowed, salt used, and total snowfall. The site also shows what phase the snow operation is in, and what tasks are being completed in each snow response phase.”

You can read more on the site on the BBJ.

0 Office Space Super Bowl

Posted on February 11, 2015 by Wil Catlin

Credit: rejournals.com

Office Vacancy and the Super bowl, the city with the highest vacancy rate wins.

REjournals compared Boston and Seattle’s office markets, citing a correlation between office vacancies and Super Bowl victories: “according to JLL, NFL teams based in cities with higher office vacancy rates have won the Lombardi Trophy 60 percent of the time in the past 15 seasons, including seven straight years from 2000 through 2006…This year, Boston’s office vacancy rate is 14.7 percent while Seattle’s is 10.7 percent. Based on this statistic, the odds favor New England.”

You can read the complete analysis on rejournals.com.

0 Boston Residents can Monitor City’s Development Projects

Posted on January 28, 2015 by Wil Catlin

What is going on over there? That is one question that gets asked time and time again about commercial developments in Boston. Looking to track the Hub’s developments? Now there is an App for that.

According to the BBJ, “Boston residents will be able to track local projects, find meeting times, and submit online feedback through a new online forum hosted on Boston’s Department of Neighborhood Development website and at CoUrbanize.com. The move, the city said, would increase transparency in the development process for city-owned land and city-funded housing developments…The city of Boston is using the CoUrbanize platform to catalogue information about city-owned land and buildings available for development, in addition to collecting information about affordable housing developments in which the city has an investment.”

The full article is available on the Boston vertical of the BizJournals website: BizJournals.com/Boston.

0 Newbury Street Real Estate Goes in ‘Hub Buying Spree’

Posted on January 28, 2015 by Wil Catlin

Credit: The Real Reporter

Urban Meritage closes on another piece of Newbury Street real estate by adding 50,000 rentable square feet.

From The Real Reporter:

Bringing its CRE holdings secured here to 11 properties in just 21 months, the partnership of Urban Meritage and Novaya Ventures (UMNV) has taken a giant step forth in purchasing the hulking six-story 126 Newbury St. from its longtime New York owner in an eye-popping $54.2 million deal consummated earlier today. Rudin Management’s trade brings UMNV’s portfolio of assets focused along the famed shopping boulevard to nearly $150 million, blowing past the $100 million level in one fell swoop and giving the firm three prime buildings between Berkeley and Exeter Streets, the latest on the third block up from the Boston Public Garden and next to the second block where UMNV began its platform via the $10.0 million.

0 Tech Initiatives Set for Boston

Posted on January 19, 2015 by Wil Catlin

Credit: BBJ

Looking to use your smartphone to pay for parking in Boston? Thank the Mayor, who pushed a new app out the doors of city hall and launched in as a pilot in Back Bay. It was one of the Mayor’s six technology-centric initiatives announced recently. The full six tech initiatives are the following:

1.    Boston drivers can now feed their meters with a mobile app.
2.    Boston’s new partnership with SAP.
3.    The creation of “StartHub.”
4.    Leveraging big data.
5.    The unveiling of a “startup czar” position.
6.    New 3-1-1 upgrades.

You can read more on each of Mayor Walsh’s tech initiatives for Boston on the BizJournals website.