Category Archives: Boston Waterfront Office Space

0 Boston Office Rents Among Country’s Most Expensive

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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.

office market in Boston

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 Real Estate Valued at More than $100B

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Boston is a $100 billion dollar city and the hub’s office tenants will be paying for it. Expect your office lease rates to rise with the new year’s tax bill.

Overhead view of Boston seaport

Credit: The Boston Globe

From the Boston Globe:

“With the [Boston] real estate market surging, the total estimated value of its residential and commercial property jumped over that threshold for the first time and has climbed to a total of $110 billion, according to a new city assessment…The increase will mean significantly higher tax bills for many property owners next year, although the extent of those increases will not be known until tax rates are set in the coming days…To stave off sticker shock, the city’s assessing department has already begun reaching out to owners in some neighborhoods where values have increased the most.”

0 Seaport Square: Construction Underway

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Seaport Sq in Boston

Credit: BostonsNewWaterfront.com

We have waited a long time for Seaport Square and now we can have a peak at what is underway.  Construction should take about 3.5 years and will provide retail and residential to the flourishing recent office developments.3

From the BBJ, along with a Seaport Square slideshow:

“Developer John Hynes of Boston Global Investors said, ‘It’s all systems go on Monday’ and the project should be complete in 3 1/2 years. Hynes said the scale of One Seaport Square will be rivaled in recent Boston development history only by the 1958 construction of the Prudential Center and the 1984 construction of Copley Place…Stephen Wood of Berkshire Group said the residential component, which his company is handling, will be aimed at people who want ‘a seamless transition between their personal and professional lives.'”

You can read about the groundbreaking of One Seaport Sq. on the Boston Business Journal.

0 Boston Harbor Garage Towers Discussion Continues

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Rendering of the proposed towers at Boston Harbor Garage

Credit: Bostinno/Streetwise

How many towers can the 1.3 acre site on the waterfront support?

Graphic renderings of the proposed Boston Harbor Garage towers were recently unveiled; the towers would replace the Harbor Garage on India Street.

From Banker & Tradesman:

“‘They told us that being allowed to build that much would be considered a valuable business opportunity by any experienced developer,’ Lee Kozol, chair of the Harbor Towers Garage committee, said in a statement. The economic analysis has been submitted to the Boston Redevelopment Authority, which is reviewing conceptual plans for the project…for the project to go forward in its current form, the BRA would have to waive maximum height and minimum open space limits for waterfront developments.”

0 How Do You Feel about Office Beacons?

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Office beacons in Boston real estate

Credit: OfficeBeacon.com

Does your office use beacons like Digitas to figure out your movement with the office?

From Digiday:

“DigitasLBi…has installed 120 beacons — devices that communicate with nearby smartphones via Bluetooth technology — in its Boston office in order to identify how and where its employees congregate. The goal is to learn how to improve office design and meeting scheduling.

‘the most immediate goal…was to use data collected from the beacons to establish a baseline for how the office’s 700 employees currently meet with one another.'”

Does this sound like a model for efficiency or will it yield a new mode of employee resentment?

0 Seasoned Fort Point Landlords Ready to Cash Out

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The Seaport is for sale!  The landlord’s that have participated in the lease of up to 3.7 million square feet of new tenant space since 2010, are looking to cash out and move onto new opportunities.  Class B rents have surpassed the $40.00 per square foot mark on Summer Street.

Boston's fort-point neighborhood in the downtown Seaport district

Credit: cityofboston.gov

Banker and Tradesman points out that “nearly 750,000 square feet of office space is currently on the market, or nearly one-fifth of the neighborhood’s office inventory. The six properties include the Thomson Reuters office portfolio, an assemblage of 10 buildings containing 414,000 square feet of brick-and-beam space.The transactions will go a long way toward determining whether Fort Point can retain its status as an Innovation District, or whether rents set by the new owners will force startups to look elsewhere.”

Additional information on the transformative Fort Point neighborhood is available on B&T’s website.

0 Boston Markets Blend History and Modernity

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seaport office space in Boston at night

Seaport office space at 281 Summer St.

For a 400 year old city, we are experiencing record growth with billions being invested into new office, residential, and retail projects in areas of the city that were previously left for dirt lots or industrial space.

Bisnow.com, offers some historical perspective on the alternation and modernization of the hub over just the past decade:

“A decade ago, the waterfront—just across Fort Point Channel from the downtown Financial District—was still seen as the home of a languishing commercial port. Now the Seaport, aka the Innovation District, has new infrastructure, new buildings like Hanover’s (above), and a flock of cranes bringing more product online. Skanska is building a new HQ for PwC; State Street recently completed its relo into Channel Center; The Drew Co is quickly leasing apartments at Waterside Place; and The Fallon Co is selling super luxury condos on Fan Pier. The Seaport has come alive, Douglass says, with spectacular views and a condo market that’s heating up.”

0 Boston Harbor Towers: Rendering and Prospective View

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The new proposed look of Chiofaro’s Waterfront project was unveiled last night.  What does a $1B 1.3milling square foot project look like?  Well, like the envisioned Harbor Towers.

The Boston Globe offers a “rendering showing a view of the new Harbor Towers buildings from the harbor. The new buildings are at the center of the rendering, to the right of the existing Harbor Towers buildings”:

rendering of Boston harbor towers

Credit: The Boston Globe

Continue on to the Globe’s website for additional photos of the view from the water, towards the Financial District.

0 Boston Harbor Skyscraper Proposal Gets Revived

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Is smaller better or is the new mayor now open Chiofaro’s Harbor Garage Proposal?  No matter what side of this you are on our waterfront continues to evolve and buildings created decades ago are being razed to make way for new developments that are in line with today’s uses and environmental standards.

Photos from The Boston Globe:

Boston Harbor Skyscraper project Continue reading →

0 UberBoat to Provide Limited Water Service in Boston

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Boston boat transportation

Credit: Uber

Need a ride to the airport or a harbor island from the Financial District?  Walk toward the waterfront at get within .25 mile of the water and open Uber.  This is pilot program only from June 4th to June 15th.

Boston Magazine notes that “in order to access the UberBOAT option, users have to be within a quarter-mile of the harbor. When they are close enough, the app will then display an UberBOAT icon on the screen. From there, people can simply “place a pin” on a map , indicating where they want to be picked up near the docks, and hit the “Request” button. Soon after, a boat will appear. “Once your request has been accepted, the captain will give you a call to confirm your location and provide additional details on reaching the dock,” the company said.”

Jump over to Boston Magazine to read the complete article and to view an interactive map of the water taxi operation area.