0 Boston Seaport Attracts Tech and Biotech Start-ups

Posted on April 9, 2014 by Wil Catlin

World Trade Center East, 2 Seaport Lane

Boston continues to expand into the Seaport. The once-famed $7-per-day-dirt parking lots have been replaced with corporate office space for the biotech industry, law firms, financial services and newly funded technology companies. Did this happen overnight? Well, no. The Ted Williams Tunnel to the airport, and onramp to Mass Turnpike East and West fostered accessibility and spurred new opportunity. That level of infrastructure was the catalyst of for our current development cycle, combined with demand for residential and office development.

The Boston Globe states:

“The new face of Boston’s Seaport is the old face of the city’s downtown. The lawyers and accountants who are financing the waterfront construction boom are abandoning Boston’s historic commercial center for something newer and more exciting. This exodus is opening up cheaper commercial space for creative firms and tech companies…Boston’s downtown and its waterfront are slowly swapping identities.”

More information on the Seaport’s transition is provided in the Boston Globe’s full article.

Alternatively, you can view our listings for currently available office space in the Seaport.

0 7-9 Channel Center in Seaport Slated for Renovation

Posted on April 5, 2014 by Wil Catlin

Credit: Boston Business Journal

Berkley Investments is bullish on the Seaport with their soon-to-be-renovated 7-story, 10K SF floor plate building. This building is targeting funded and stabilized technology companies.

According to the Boston Business Journal, Berkeley is rehabilitating “9 Channel Center, a 7-story office and retail building totaling 77,000 square feet in the growing Seaport neighborhood. The interior and exterior rehab will include the installation of new building systems and the addition of as much as 4,000 square feet of street-level retail. The building’s brick and beam architecture will be restored. The design also calls for a new atrium lobby, retail storefronts and a roof deck. The building’s floor plates will span approximately 10,000 square feet.”

Details on the design and tenant plans for 7-9 Channel Center are included in the BBJ article: office rehab in Seaport.

0 Why are they leaving Waltham for Boston and Cambridge?

Posted on April 5, 2014 by Wil Catlin

Kendall Square commuters rely on the T to get to work in Cambridge, Ma

Credit: MIT

Why are the V.C. firms leaving Waltham for Boston? Is it traffic and higher priced rents? No, the customer is there. Downtown Crossing (DTX) has evolved to being a hot bed of new technology companies that wanted a few simple items. Rents; looking for an affordable option, DTX has Class B rents ranging from the mid to upper $20’s to the mid to upper $30’s PSF. The swing in price is due the specific location, the build out of the space and the condition of the overall building. In addition some buildings have a staffed lobby, while other operate on a key FOB system.

Location; emerging companies are competing for a hot commodity, talented staff. Location becomes a huge factor what that young employee doesn’t own a car and relies on the T to get them around. DTX is uniquely positioned at the Red, Green, Blue and Orange lines.

So, that is why the V.C. firms are moving back to the city to pay Class A rents that can start in the upper $40’s PSF and beyond?

The latest Venture firm to vacate Waltham for Boston or Cambridge? North Bridge Venture Partners.

From betaboston.com:

North Bridge Venture Partners, based in Waltham, is planning to move to Boston or Cambridge some time later this year, said general partner Michael Skok. “Our leanings are toward the Innovation District or Downtown, mostly based on entrepreneurs saying it,” Skok said.

The Betaboston.com article on North Bridge Venture Partners is available in full, here.

0 Sweetgreen Opens Location in Boston Seaport

Posted on April 5, 2014 by Wil Catlin

Credit: Boston Business Journal

From 11:45 AM to 1:45 PM the Boylston Street location for Sweetgreen is mobbed. My office is a ½-block away, so I frequently walk past their location and see the line out the door for those crazed salad fans. Yes, I too am a fan and appreciate fresh food served quickly for a competitive price. The Seaport location will attract a following that no doubt will see similar long lines out the door. Enjoy!

According to a report on the Boston Business Journal, “located at 372 Congress St., the 1,655-square-foot eatery joins the neighborhood of local firms Life is good, Rue La La, and Zipcar….Sweetgreen says it prides itself on preparing foods from scratch on location, not from a commissary, using ingredients from local farms that are prepared and cooked daily.”

More information is available in the BBJ’s coverage, here.

0 Kendall Square Lures Startups from Boston Suburbs

Posted on February 18, 2014 by Wil Catlin

Credit: OneKendallSquare

More companies are moving into the city and vacating their suburban campus model. Why is the occurring? Talent, employers want to make it easy for the existing workforce and also for future new hires. Most younger workers don’t wish to have cars and would prefer to walk, bike or T to work. Cambridge, among other downtown hubs, are reaping the benefits.

The Boston Globe notes the recent lure of Kendall Square and the Seaport in Boston:

The suburban exodus means demand for commercial space around Kendall Square and the Seaport is greater than it’s ever been. The danger is that all this demand prices out the small companies that are driving the innovation economy’s urban movement in the first place.

The full article is available on the Boston Globe’s website.

0 How Startups Pick their Hometowns

Posted on February 18, 2014 by Wil Catlin

Credit: BBJ

Frequently when I meet with young companies their initial request is, what will it cost? My reply is usually is, “ If it was free and the perfect configuration, but in Western Massachusetts, would you take it?” The reply, “No.”

Companies that are in growth mode care about access to qualified potential employees. In the Boston market we see many companies prefer to be within the city core as opposed to be outside the city for that simple reason. The younger workforce doesn’t own or doesn’t want their commute to involve an automobile.

According to a research report on the Boston Business Journal, here’s are the three aspects that entrepreneurs say actually did sell them on their hometowns:

1. Population & talent

2. Livability

3. Strong area supply chains

The full BBJ article is available, here.

0 Billion-Dollar Sale includes two Buildings on Fan Pier

Posted on February 12, 2014 by Wil Catlin

Credit: Boston Business Journal

Developers continue to permit, build and lease as their buildings come online and stabilize, they sell. We will continue to see trades within the office sector as our economy continues to grow and outperform the national average.

The most recent indication of this trend is the sale of two buildings on Fan Pier. According to the BBJ, Senior Housing Properties Trust plans to acquire the two office buildings in Boston’s Seaport District. A closing is expected in the next few months. The nearly 1.7-million-square-foot deal includes 1.1 million square feet of office space while the remaining portion is the underground garage.”

Additional details are available on the Boston Business Journal.

0 Demand Grows for Office Tower at Seaport’s Pier 4

Posted on February 8, 2014 by Wil Catlin

Credit: Boston Herald

Will the Seaport see a new tower in the near future? Office demand is strong and New England Development is looking to accommodate.

According to a recent Boston Herald article, “strong demand for new Seaport District office space has prompted New England Development to settle on an office tower for the second phase of its 1 million-square-foot, mixed-use Pier 4 project.”

The full article is available here: Boston Herald real estate

0 Boston Office Market Shifts to the Financial District

Posted on January 8, 2014 by Wil Catlin

The Downtown Boston Office Market continues to be strong as firms seek better value options than the high-priced Seaport or Back Bay submarkets. Pricing in the Class B market is still in the low-to-mid $30’s PSF downtown, while the Seaport has pushed into the low to mid $40’s.

B&T recently reported that “the popularity of the Seaport and Back Bay, where office building vacancy rates have been at historical lows in recent months, has been a boon to the city’s traditionally staid, button-down financial center, where younger and tech-related firms have opened up shop.”

Additional information is available on the Banker & Tradesman website.

0 James Hook site at Fort Point Channel: Rumored Development Plans

Posted on December 23, 2013 by Wil Catlin

Credit: Boston Business Journal

The skyline along Atlantic Avenue overlooking the Seaport/Innovation district will have some new company in 2014.

The Boston Business Journal is reporting potential development on the former James Hook & Co.’s waterfront building:

the Hooks are proposing a building of undetermined size on the site at 436-440 Atlantic Ave. to house a “rustic” lobster restaurant on the ground floor. It is unclear whether the building would contain offices or apartments.

For additional information, jump over to the BBJ.

Alternatively, you can view Seaport office space for lease by following the link.