Category Archives: Cambridge Office Space

0 Cambridge Aims to Make Labs Greener

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Lab space in Cambridge

Credit: The Boston Herald

How green is your Cambridge lab space?  The City of Cambridge is trying to make lab space as green as possible.

“A city task force has been meeting for nearly a year to come up with a way for new buildings in Cambridge to be “net zero” to significantly reduce emissions. But some of the most energy-intensive buildings in Cambridge are biotech labs, which require a significant amount of specialized infrastructure, including high-powered ventilation systems to deal with any potentially hazardous gases,” the Boston Herald reports.

The Herald article offers a detailed look at the steps required — and planned — for Cambridge buildings to produce “zero emissions.”

0 Weissman: Boston Real Estate Superior to New York

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Jason Weissman, founder of Boston Realty Advisors

Credit: Bisnow

Why is Boston better than New York?  Our own Jason Weissman chimes in at a Biznow Event.

From Bisnow:

Boston Realty Advisors founder Jason Weissman says Boston outshines New York because it has less exposure to a downturn in government spending. Based on fundamentals and cash flow, he expects to see lots more property sales in 3% cap rate territory in 2015. Retail and office rents still have room for appreciation and greater cash flow will boost asset values. So much so that investors will start searching for deals in outlier markets, namely I-495 and southern New Hampshire.  

0 Office Design Mirrors Culture, Approach for Modern Start-ups

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Art in Facebook's Cambridge office space

Credit: The Boston Globe

What type of art does your office have?  The experience of today’s office differs greatly from what we saw just 10 years ago; today it exudes the company’s culture and vibe.

The Boston Globe recently published an article on the interior aesthetic and art marking Facebook’s Cambridge office:

The Kendall Square office of Facebook, which opened last year, includes five art pieces commissioned by the social media giant. Ryan Mack, who runs the local office for Facebook, oversaw the selection of art:

‘If you look at any of our offices, art’s an important part of our company culture. We try to find pieces that combine Facebook culture, which is about technology and connecting people, with the local culture. So we always get stuff from local artists…there are design elements that are consistent across all Facebook offices, but the art gives them a local touch. We put an artist statement up near each piece that tells a little story about the artist or how they designed that piece for the office.’

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 Cambridge Office Rents Continue to Climb

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Boston from Cambridge over redline T

Credit: Banker and Tradesman

The torch gets passed to Kendall Square with office rents in Cambridge skyrocketing, and one market expected to climb even higher. Kendall is the spot to be for blue chip tech companies, but why – is it the view of the Boston Skyline?  No, simply put it’s Harvard and MIT that are the attraction. Companies want to attract top talent and want to associate with these prestigious institutions any way they can.

Banker and Tradesman is reporting “building owners in the lab- and office-packed Cambridge neighborhood [of Kendall Square] are quoting $80 a square foot for prime space…[while] the vacancy rate for office space in the Cambridge neighborhood is a practically air-tight 0.6 percent.”

More information on the demand trends of Kendall Square office space is available on B&T’s website.

0 Cambridge Innovation Center at 15 Years Old

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One Broadway street CIC

Credit: Boston.About.com

Creating a community for innovators to innovate might be one of the most valuable innovations in Boston. Yes, the deals that are brought to market through CIC are what the VC’s are looking for, but without Tom Rowe’s platform — the Cambridge Innovation Center — some of these ideas may have been kept on the shelf and not made it to market.

A Boston Globe article offers some insight on CIC’s direction for the future:

“In April, [founder, Tim Rowe] opened the CIC Boston, a 60,000-square-foot shared office space downtown, and it has been just a few weeks since he opened CIC St. Louis, his first out-of-state venture and the largest startup space that is not on the East or West coast. Rowe was keen to cozy up to the Midwestern city’s startup scene: He saw promise in Washington University’s health care colossus and was tickled when Boeing opened offices in the 120,000-square-foot space — one of its first occupants. Lately, he has been shuttling to and from the Netherlands as he looks to take CIC global.”

Additional details and photos from the CIC’s 15th anniversary, are available on the Globe’s website.

0 Spec Office Construction Coming to Boston

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Boston Spec SuitesSpec office construction is coming to Boston In 2015 – for who?  Well, not for the smaller companies, their footprint would be far smaller than the new construction Class A can accommodate.  The recent 4 quarters has seen a tremendous migration to the Financial District from the Seaport and East Cambridge for the value oriented office tenant.  Rent within the Class B market still fall within the mid to upper $30’s per square foot.

Banker & Tradesman offers some perspective on the market shift in downtown Boston, noting “the office market continues to recover from the 2008 downturn because of an expanding tech sector and relocations of companies from Cambridge and the suburbs. Recent acquisitions of trophy office towers in Boston and Cambridge reflect the continuing interest of foreign investors seeking higher yields than government bonds, panelists said. In 2015, office investment sales are expected to slow, but overseas investors will continue to put money to work in Greater Boston, said Jessica Hughes, a managing director for JLL.”

You can read the B&T report, here, or check out our analysis of Boston Spec Suites.

0 Cambridge Startup Launches new IM for Workplace Collaboration

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Collaboration seems to be a key driver for employers both large and small.  Some companies are trying to figure out the best way/product that could be the key for maximizes efficiencies in the workplace.

New messenger and professional network for worker collaboration

Credit: BBJ

The Boston Business Journal notes that Chookka, “a Cambridge company that allows people to chat with each other and send files…officially launched in September. The service is currently in beta mode and hopes to get to 10,000 users “fairly quickly,” said Chookka co-founder Yves Schabes…The goal, Schabes said, is not to replace email, but complement it — especially when groups of people are trying to communicate.”

Additional information on Chookka’s collaborative product is available on the BBJ’s website.

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 Office Rent Increases Expected in Prime Boston Locations

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Blackstone_logoIf you need more space or if your lease is near the end of the term, now is the time to secure office space in Boston.  Buildings are trading hands and the new owners will be looking for a return on their investment and will push rents.  In 2007 when Blackstone bought Equity, rents rose 44 percent and other landlords followed suit.

A report on nerej suggests an optimistic future for landlords; “all signs are in place for another major rent move rivaling The Blackstone Effect of 2007. As of Q2 2014 when everything started, vacancy for class A and B buildings in core downtown Boston (defined as Back Bay, Seaport and CBD) was at 8.4%. In Q4 2006, vacancy was at 8.3%. In Q2 2014 average rent for Boston’s core downtown market was $50.32 per s/f; this is $8.56 per s/f higher than Q4 2006…The momentum in the market is similar to 2007. Based on 2007 actual experience, and a move similar to 2007, it would be reasonable to see a “rent pop” up to the $70 per s/f level for core assets. 2007 peaked at $60.15 per s/f. 2015-2016 should add another $10 per s/f, which would result in average rent of $70.15 per s/f during the next 2 years.”

More information is available on the nerej website, here.