Category Archives: Cambridge Real Estate

0 Ron Druker Explains the Business of Condos

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Millennium tower in boston rendering

Rendering of Millennium Tower in Downtown Crossing

Ron Druker of The Druker Company wonders, is it luck or skill with successful real estate projects?

From Bisnow:

Condos are a tricky business, especially compared to the reliable apartment…there’s a limited window for selling the units, Ron tells us. The developer who misses it can have trouble. Even when the project goes according to plan, Ron says, the risk is high and the reward may not be great. Sales can be strong, but the revenue is booked as ordinary income, which means that taxes can take a big bite. He says he was lucky twice: with The Heritage on the Garden in Back Bay and Atelier 505 in the South End. “I’m not sure I would be so again and choose not to tempt fate.” He’s also not about to build a big office/mixed-use project on spec.

You can read the full article on Bisnow’s website, here.

0 Monitor Cambridge Office Developments Online

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Cliff Notes for real estate? Well, in a way, yes. coUrbanize is a conduit into filing packages for city development projects, without forcing the reader to take the time to read a 400-page memorandum.  The system will allow readers to view a summary of the project and leave their comments behind.

site to track Cambridge office development online

Property page on coUrbanize

A Banker&Tradesman article reports “coUrbanize is partnering with the city to post summaries and details of 42 projects that are in permitting or under construction, including the 1-million-square-foot Kendall Square urban renewal plan and approximately 3,000 new residential units across the city…Over the past year, Cambridge planning officials have been sharing their open data system with coUrbanize, which built a website showing the location and details of all development proposals and construction projects.”

B&T summarized the key point thusly: “The platform gives residents a new avenue to participate in the process outside the traditional public hearing forum.

0 Boston Software Startup picks Fenway over Kendall Square

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fenway office space

Office space at 1330 Boylston Street in Boston

The office market for growing companies appears to be expanding beyond traditional office markets such as Back Bay, Seaport and Financial District to Fenway.  This is due to Samuels & Associates offering what companies want and need; cool creative space without a long term lease.  New formed and funded companies are in most cases unable to make long term lease commitments, Hatch Fenway is designed to bright that gap between shared space and direct space.

One example of this is documented on the BBJ:

Software startup Appcues has moved from Cambridge to a 2,100-square-foot office at Hatch Fenway, the startup space created by real estate developerSamuels & Associates this summer…the company started out in WeWork co-working space before moving to 300 square feet at 25 First St. in Cambridge. Late last year, the company raised $1.2 million in seed funding from Atlas Ventures and other investors…The company needed space to grow and had looked all over: Downtown Crossing, the Leather District, Kendall Square, Lechmere, Cambridge, the Seaport’s Innovation District. But Kendall Square has become “so office park-y,” Kim said.

“We like getting out of the office and going to interesting places,” he said. “The Fenway just has such a diverse array of restaurants, a movie theater right downstairs. Everything is convenient.”

Related Office Listings
Fenway Office Space for Lease

 

0 MIT Plans to Further Transform Kendall Square, Main Street

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Office building in Cambridge on 1 main st

! Main Street, Cambridge

Changes in real estate keep coming, now MIT is elaborating on its plans for 1 Main Street in Kendall.

According to the Boston Globe, “University officials this week presented additional details of their plan for a reimagined Main Street, with new towers, wider sidewalks, welcoming open spaces, and clear signals to visitors that they have landed at MIT and in Kendall Square. The presentation before the city’s Planning Board on Tuesday night provided an overview of the $1.2 billion redevelopment project, which calls for converting six parking lots into offices, research space, hundreds of units of housing, and more than 100,000 square feet of retail. The six new buildings near Main would rise up to 300 feet tall.” The Globe article further explains, “City planners were largely supportive of MIT’s plan, though in a memo they expressed concern about “the scale and bulk” of some of the proposed buildings, warning that they might overwhelm pedestrians. Several members of the Planning Board agreed that the buildings appeared too imposing; some also called for more middle-class housing. But the board did certify that the plan met zoning and design guidelines.”

You can read the full article on the Boston Globe.

Available Office Listings and Area Details
Kendall Square Office Space

0 What Does the Commute Cost Boston Drivers?

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Do you pick you job based on where you live or do you pick where you live based on your job?

According to estimates from the Boston Globe, “Boston-area drivers spent an extra 64 hours in the car due to traffic in 2014, a new study found. During that time, they burned an extra 30 gallons of gas and also lost time they could have been productive. It added up to an estimated $1,388 lost per driver…Boston ranked as the sixth worst major metropolitan area for traffic congestion.”

boston_commuters_time_in_car

Credit: Boston Globe

You can read the full article on the Boston Globe.

0 Cambridge Lab Space Leads US

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Kendall Square office space

Credit: BBJ

Great Boston leads the nation with the most expensive lab space.

According to the BBJ, quoting a Sciences Outlook report by brokerage JLL, “Boston and Cambridge are by far the most expensive life sciences markets to rent lab space in the United States…Greater Boston’s life sciences rental rates have climbed 7.4 percent this year to reach an average rate of $47.40 per square foot. In Cambridge specifically, the average lab rent is $51.60 per square foot, the report said. The report also said tenants are currently on the hunt for around 1.3 million square feet of space in the city.”

You can read the full article on the Boston Business Journal’s website.

0 Cambridge Office Space Still Leads the Nation

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Lab and office space in Cambridge and Kendall Sq

Credit: Boston Business Journal

Great Boston leads the nation with the most expensive lab space.

From the BBJ:

Greater Boston’s life sciences rental rates have climbed 7.4 percent this year to reach an average rate of $47.40 per square foot, outstripping other top markets including Raleigh/Durham, North Carolina (up 12.4 percent year-over-year to $19 per square foot); San Francisco (16.9 percent, $37.30); San Diego (15.5 percent, $29.90); New York/New Jersey (8.3 percent, $24); and Los Angeles (4.9 percent, $30.70)…In Cambridge specifically, the average lab rent is $51.60 per square foot, the report said. The report also said tenants are currently on the hunt for around 1.3 million square feet of space in the city.

0 Boston Office Rents up 7.6%

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1 broadway in kendall

One Broadway in Kendall Square (click for property details)

Fewer options exist on the Boston office market, and what is available is more expensive then previous quarters.  Combined with fewer concessions offered by landlords, local tenants are feeling the pinch.

From the Boston Globe:

Boston’s office market is hopping, according to reports issued by real estate brokerages Transwestern and Jones Lang LaSalle. Driven by strong employment gains and growing companies in need of additional space, rents are rising all across Greater Boston, up 7.6 percent in the last 12 months. Throughout Cambridge, there are just three vacant office spaces of 20,000 square feet or more on the market, and rents in Kendall Square are averaging above $70 per square foot. Along Route 128, vacancy rates are at record lows, while office rents along Interstate 495 are at seven-year highs.

0 Kendall Square Office Space gets Remade

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200 Sidney st. cambridge ma

Credit: BBJ

Changes are on the move for East Cambridge. Vertex’s old HQ in Kendall Square is poised to be remade.

From the Boston Globe:

The deal will enable Biomed to begin renovating the buildings. They include two lab and office buildings at 200 Sidney St. and 40 Erie St., with a total of 239,000 square feet, that were leased to Vertex through this December, and another 21,000 square feet at 21 Erie St. that was leased to Vertex through May 2017.

Biomed said it will update the buildings’ entrances and lobbies, and add indoor and outdoor collaboration spaces and fitness centers. The work will begin immediately and the sites should be ready to be leased to new tenants starting in September, the developer said.

Related Listings
Kendall Square office space for lease

0 Shared Office and Lab Space in Cambridge for Life Science Ventures

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mass innovation labsShared space for life sciences is a has a new host, Mass Innovations Labs, in Kendall Square. The program offers everything from office and bench layouts to EH&S Programs.

From the Boston Globe:

Mass Innovation Labs said Monday that it was opening an “accelerated commercialization space” for companies trying to bring their drugs and devices to market. There also are specialized services available in-house, such as help setting up research contracts and an animal testing and scientific support area run by Charles River Laboratories…The three-story space hosts 10 suites containing a mix of lab and office space ranging from 2,900 to 18,000 square feet. It is backed by Breed’s Hill Capital, a Charlestown firm.