Category Archives: Mixed-use Development

0 Modern Workers Need Walls for Max Productivity

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Open office space for startups

Credit: Bisnow

Open offices are not the solution to all our problems.The greater population needs some level of quiet workspace to perform their tasks and not face the endless interruption.

A study from Ethan Bernstein and Stephen Turban of Harvard Business School and Harvard University notes the following:

[in open office spaces] “you are constantly on view and worried about being seen talking, or having your conversations overheard, people chose to email or use a messaging system instead…And because people were emailing and messaging more rather than speaking face to face, the quality of interactions declined and productivity suffered.”

Additional information on the study is available at Bisnow, here.

0 New Seaport Tower on Summer St will Include a Hampton Inn, Homewood Suites

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rendering of new office building in seaport

Credit: Boston Globe

The Seaport continues to grow with office towers, residential buildings and hotels.

A recent Boston Globe article notes the Seaport’s impending 14-story tower, on Summer Street in the Raymond L. Flynn Marine Industrial Park…will house both a Hampton Inn and a Homewood Suites hotel following its ribbon cutting, slated for mid-2020.

From the Globe:

The developers [are] aiming to capitalize on a growing business market in the outer Seaport, [with] travelers coming and going from Boston’s Cruiseport, and events at the nearby Boston Convention and Exhibition Center.

 

0 Corporations are moving to cities, suburban office parks eyed as homes

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Boston office park

Credit: Business Insider

The suburban office parks as we know it might become a thing of the past like the VCR and home answering machine.

From BusinessInsider:

As more corporations flock to cities, they are vacating these office parks, many of which were built in the 1980s…But some of these parks are not staying empty. An increasing number of developers are converting them into housing, according to a recent Washington Post report.

A 2016 report by NGKF looked at office parks in five suburbs, and found that between 14% and 22% were “in some stage of obsolescence” (i.e. high vacancy rates, too much or not enough parking, the space needs substantial renovations). That suggests that up to 1 billion square feet of office space — or 7.5% of the country’s entire office inventory — is becoming obsolete for the people who work there.

0 South Boston Office Space Planned for 105 W. First Street

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Proposed South Boston office building

Credit: BBJ

Southie is looking to have a new office building at W. First Street totaling 266,000 square feet.

A recent BBJ article notes the South Boston building’s proposal includes “space for a retail, cafe or restaurant; a “convener” space that could host a co-working-style office; and an enclosed pedestrian connector that will connect West Second and West First streets in South Boston.”

More information is supplied in the complete article on the Boston Business Journal’s website, here.

0 Back Bay’s Most Modern Office Building at 888 Boylston Continues to Attract Tenants

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Back Bay office building on Boylston st

Credit: BBJ

Back Bay’s newest office building continues to attract tenants as Accenture announces its move into 52,340 square feet of space. 888 Boylston Street is Boston Properties’ new 17-story 425,000 building. The complex also includes 800 Boylston Street, 101 Huntington Avenue and 111 Huntington Avenue.

According to the BBJ, “Boston Properties developed 888 Boylston, a 17-story, $275 million office and retail building in Boston’s Back Bay. The property was designed to be ‘the most sustainable building in Boston,’ said Bryan Koop, Boston Properties’ executive vice president.”

More details on Accenture’s move to 888 Boylston Street are available on the Boston Business Journal, here.

 

0 South Station Tower Gains New Promise

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rendering of new mixed-use building near South Station

Credit: Boston Globe

The South Station tower moves closer to reality despite some obstacles. The tower would be built on spec.

From the Boston Globe:

The Boston Planning & Development Agency board approved plans for a 51-story office and condominium tower over the busy rail hub…Development firm Hines would build the tower above the rail shed at South Station, with a lobby along Atlantic Avenue. That lobby would fill in the gap between South Station’s main concourse and its bus terminal, and would expand the bus facilities by 50 percent. It would also expand a parking garage, adding 527 spaces.

Above that, Hines would build 1.1 million square feet of office space and condos in what, at 677 feet high, would rank among the city’s tallest buildings. Later phases would add two mid-rise buildings atop the station.

0 Map of Boston Coworking Office Space

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Coworking office space in Boston by geographic location, courtesy of Xconomy:

map of boston and cambridge shared office space

Credit: Xconomy

Andy Palmer, a Boston serial entrepreneur and angel investor, ‘thinks Boston would be best served by a series of spaces spread among different neighborhoods along the subway system’s Red Line, which touches the city’s busiest startup hubs, including Kendall Square in Cambridge and the Seaport District and Downtown Crossing in Boston. And if you look at the map, that strategy seems to be playing out…Boston’s neighborhoods “all need good, solid coworking spaces because they all have startups and founders that want to do startups in these areas,” Palmer says. “It’s healthy to have these short-term lease options in every one of these areas.”’

0 Updates Coming to Boston’s Financial District

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rendering of congress street redevelopment

Credit: Bizjournals.com

More new retail, office and hotel options are coming to the Boston Financial District, centered around the intersection of State Street and Congress Street.

According to the BBJ, the Boston Redevelopment Authority’s agenda for its Thursday City Hall meeting includes the following projects:

  • A public hearing to discuss a proposed 23-story, 346-room“micro hotel which is designed to meet the changing needs/habits of today’s urban travelers” at 240 Tremont St. in the Theater District.
  • A public hearing to discuss Simon Property Group’s (NYSE: SPG)residential and retail expansion projectat 5 Copley Place, a proposed 52-story tower that includes 542 units of residential space spanning 680,000 square feet, a 54,000-square-foot addition to Neiman Marcus and a 60,000-square-foot addition of restaurant and retail space.
  • Scheduling a public hearing about Related Beal’s Congress Square project.
  • Approving and extending the Simmons College institutional master plan in the Fenway neighborhood.

 

0 netBlazr Unveils Fast Unbundled Internet for Boston Multi-Tenant Buildings

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high speed internet from netblazrTELCO costs have continued to tumble and now the there is a pay-as-you-go model for residential internet.  Will the jump to commercial be soon to follow?

According to an article on FinancialContent, “netBlazr’s [new] Concierge is an ultra-premium, unbundled Internet service with speeds up to 10 times faster than cable and large telecom providers (above 300 megabits per second). netBlazr uses a building’s existing infrastructure and is available to select large multi-tenant buildings.”

More from FinancialContent:

“Internet is increasingly the most requested luxury amenity, especially among millennials. But property managers are justifiably wary of added expense and hard-to-maintain infrastructure,” said Jim Hanley, netBlazr’s co-founder and CEO. “netBlazr lets property managers offer residents affordable, Internet-only options without incurring any additional expense on their end. They also feel comfortable that netBlazr offers their sophisticated clients service as only a local company can. It’s truly a stellar customer experience.”

0 Millennium Tower in Downtown Crossing Gets Unique New Restaurant

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Millinnium tower restaurant downtown crossing Boston

Credit: Bizjournals.com

What’s for dinner at you new condo in the Millennium Tower in Downtown Crossing? The BBJ had this to say on Millennium Tower’s new restaurant:

The developers of the luxury Millennium Tower in Downtown Crossing have settled on a restaurant to serve the kind of residents who buy units selling for the millions and tens of millions of dollars — the first New England venture by San Francisco chef Michael Mina and sushi chef Ken Tominaga…Mina’s company also will operate the residents-only club in the 685-foot tower…PABU will be an izakaya, which is a casual bar for professionals, essentially, and sushi bar. The opening of the restaurant on the first two floors at the corner of Franklin and Washington streets is set for fall 2016; residents are set to being moving in during the summer of 2016.