0 On-demand Meeting Rooms in Boston

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.

Meeting rooms for rent in Boston

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 April Fools: Corporate Edition

Boston mad men office design for april fools

Credit: The Boston Globe

April fools isn’t only for the water sprayer at the kitchen sink.  Some of the team at Endeavour Partners in Kendall Square were taken back when they arrived at their office on April 1st.

According to The Boston Globe, an elaborate April Fools’ Day prank was achieved by the office assistants and company chief executive Michael A.M. Davies; “more than a dozen computers and phones were replaced by typewriters, notepads, and rotary phones. Old records and copies of Life magazine were placed around the office, along with a bottle of whiskey for good measure…Neel Desai, an associate consultant, said the gag was indicative of the office culture at the company.”

You can read more about the ruse on The Boston Globe.

0 Amazon Hiring for Echo in Cambridge

Amazon Echo

Credit: Boston Business Journal

Job openings are abundant at Amazon’s Echo in Cambridge at 101 Main Street in the Kendall Square.  Echo is a wireless gadget that doubles as a speaker and voice prompted remote control.

According to a BBJ article, “Amazon has an entire floor in its Kendall Square office dedicated to teams working on the Echo. The company has leased six floors at its 101 Main St. office in Cambridge with enough room for up to 800 employees.”

101 Cambridge Street is a 341,830 square foot 18 story building owned by RREEF.  Some of the tenants according to CoStar include:

  • Amazon
  • Aegerion Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
  • CIC
  • CRICO Strategies
  • Endeca Technologies, Inc.
  • Computers/Data Processing
  • Amazon.com
  • Clarus Ventures
  • Matrix Partners
  • Lantos Technologies
  • Cambridge Consultants Inc.
  • Personal Services
  • Genentech
  • TiE Boston
  • Cafe on Main
  • Nextcode Health Usa, Inc
  • Park Square Execuitve Search, Llc
  • Capstone Financial Services
  • BP America Inc.
  • Quanticate Inc.
  • Gecko Health Innovations, Inc.
  • BioMed Realty Trust
  • Endeavour Partners Llc
  • Kinalco Inc.
  • Tatte Bakery & Cafe
  • Withings Inc.
  • Corporate Chefs
  • Cambridge Athletic Club Express
  • Matrix Capital Management Company Llc
  • Keryx Biopharmaceuticals
  • Cambridge Advisory To Family Enterprise
  • Lns Research

 

0 Kayak Hosts Cambridge Hackathon to Recruit New Hires

Cambridge office space of Kayak

Credit: Boston Business Journal

Today’s office tenants are not only using their office to house their staff, meet and greet their customers, but now as a recruiting tool.  Kayak hosted an event for new recruits earlier this year at their new 42,000 square foot facility.

From the BBJ:

The chance for non-Kayak employees to show off their tech skills is a win-win for the company and for those techies, said Kayak chief technology officer Giorgos Zacharia in a recent interview.

“We want to be known as a cool company in this area,” said Zacharia. “People don’t know that we moved. The hackathon is a way to make it known that Kayak is now in Cambridge and we’re in this amazing space.”

0 Boston Office Rents Among Country’s Most Expensive

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 Apple Leases Additional Office Space in Cambridge

One Broadway east Cambridge

One Broadway in Cambridge MA

Apple is expanding Siri in Cambridge by securing 11,500 RSF at One Broadway.

According to an article on CultofMac.com, “documents filed with local authorities show that the company has leased around 11,500 square feet of office space on the 13th floor of One Broadway, an office tower owned by MIT and located on the outer perimeter of the university’s campus in Cambridge, MA,” in an effort to expand its Siri team.

You can read the entire article the CultofMac website.

0 New ‘state of the art’ Juice and Coffee Bar coming to Kendall Square?

Looking for a fresh new twist in Kendall?  Boston.eater.com posted an article on a mysterious “Craigslist job posting for a manager of a ‘brand new state of the art juice and coffee bar,’ that offered no name, location, or opening timeline…the posting suggests a focus on ‘all natural and organic’ ingredients sourced locally.”

inside Kendall square juice bar, Mother juice

Mother Juice in Kendall, courtesy of eater.com

In the meantime, visit Mother Juice @ 625 W Kendall Street, Cambridge.

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

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 Cambridge Office Rents Continue to Climb

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.