Category Archives: Seaport Office Space

0 Boston Office Rents Correlate to MBTA Access and Proximity

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Your office rents in Boston are directly impacted by the distance to the nearest MBTA stop. Simply put, expect to pay more the closer you are.

MBTA map and corresponding office rent in Boston

Credit: Banker&Tradesman

Banker and Tradesman notes, “despite the departure of several large office tenants for the Financial District and Seaport, Back Bay still has Boston’s highest-priced office space. Buildings within a 5-minute walk of Hynes Convention Center station on the Green Line average $66.69 per square foot, partly reflecting the completion of Boston Properties’ 888 Boylston tower anchored by Natixis Global Asset Management.

You can read additional analysis on the impact of the MBTA on Boston office prices on B&T.

0 Underwater Garages in Boston?

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We all agree, finding garage parking in Boston can be a challenge. What about parking under the Charles River or under the Fort Point Channel?

Amsterdam parking under water

Image Credit: Curbed

In a recent article the Boston Globe notes, “in a city like Boston, where the most parking-starved areas are surrounded by water, the payoff could be significant: helping to reduce the pollution and traffic caused by drivers circling the block hunting for spot, making parking more affordable, and freeing up more street-level space for other uses.”

The Globe article also includes the following comment of the feasibility of such an undertaking:

“It’s definitely very possible,” said Arthur G. Stadig, vice president of Walker Parking Consultants, who said a client of his Boston firm — whom he declined to identify — recently toyed with the idea of extending part of a planned parking garage into the harbor…It’s just a matter of is there that right combination of a development that’s close to the water, needs the parking, and is feasible from all different aspects,” including cost and securing regulatory approvals.”

You can read the full article on the Globe’s website.

 

0 Could Track 61 Offer Rail Service throughout the Seaport?

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Seaport train location

Credit: Boston Globe

Can track 61 save the Seaport from its own success? To be clear, it could help and we could use it.

From the Boston Globe:

Originally a freight line that was part of the industrial rail yards along the South Boston Waterfront, Track 61 has been unused for many years while around it a new neighborhood of glass-walled offices, luxury condos, and hip restaurants has sprung up.

The roughly 1.5-mile spur [that] cuts across the Seaport District from the southwestern edge of South Boston…is coming back to life [to test] new Red Line subway cars that are being built for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority in Springfield.

The work will include an electrified third rail along Track 61 to power the Red Line cars, a new shed, and other improvements.

0 Multi-Dimensional Seaport Office Building Billed as a ‘Game-Changer’

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Multi-dimensional commercial building in Seaport Boston

Credit: Boston Business Journal

Innovative architecture is proposed for the Seaport section of Boston curtesy of WS Development and their architect OMA based out of the Netherlands.

88 Seaport will feature 18 floors with nearly 425,000 square feet of office space, approximately 60,000 square feet of retail on the first two floors, and 5,000 square feet of civic/cultural use space. The building design features a unique series of cascading exterior terraces and a grand architectural gesture towards Fan Pier Green and the water’s edge.

From Bizjournals.com:

Yanni Tsipis, senior vice president with WS Development, told the Business Journal on Tuesday that the proposed design of the 88 Seaport Blvd. office is a game-changer for Seaport architecture. Shohei Shigematsu, a partner with Dutch architecture firm OMA, conceived the design for 88 Seaport, the firm said.

“It’s exciting to engage with the innovation migration to the Seaport District, and work with WS Development on a building positioned to be the nexus between historic Fort Point and the emerging waterfront developments,” Shigematsu said in a statement. “Our design for 88 Seaport slices the building into two volumes, creating distinct responses for each urban scale of old and new, while also accommodating diverse office typologies for diverse industries with demands for traditional and alternative floorplates. The slice also generates an opportunity to draw in the district’s public domains, linking the waterfront and Fan Pier Green with a continuous landscape.”

0 Seaport Office Market Expands with Growth of 22 Boston Wharf Rd.

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Boston Wharf road office building

Credit: Banker and Tradesman

The Seaport office footprint continues to grow upward. 55,000 square feet is being added to the top of 22 Boston Wharf Road.

According to Banker&Tradesman, “Bentall Kennedy, the real estate manager for landlord Multi-Employer Property Trust, is overseeing construction of two floors of open-format office space totaling 54,712 square feet. Another 55,000 square feet is available on the seventh and eighth floors in space previously occupied by TRO Boston and Red Thread…The space will be ready for tenants to begin interior fitouts as soon as this fall, said David Fitzgerald, a partner at CBRE/New England which is representing ownership.”

The full article is available on the Banker and Tradesman website, here.

0 Solution Needed for Truck Traffic in Boston Seaport

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Traffic in Boston’s Seaport continues to frustrate all that try to navigate the area. Truck traffic continues to increase, but the city is looking to mitigate the congestion with some innovative solutions.

Trucks at night in South Boston Seaport

Credit: Boston Herlad

From the Boston Herald:

Container and delivery trucks are rumbling through South Boston and the Seaport 6,000 times a day on average, according to a new Massport survey, rattling the high-priced loft and condo tenants

“A lot of folks moving to the Fort Point area, they weren’t necessarily expecting the volume of trucks,” he said. “That’s the polite way of putting it.”

The state has sought to address that, investing $75 million to build a freight corridor from the terminal to divert container trucks off of nearby West First Street.

0 Robots and Engineers Gain Space in Boston

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Channel Street Robotic Space Boston

Credit: Boston Globe

Robots and their creators will soon have a new space in Boston to work their magic and create the next task-oriented machine. MassRobotics, a Boston based nonprofit, has leased about 15,000 on Channel Street in the Seaport and will be opening on February 9th. The facility will house about 30 companies.

According to a Boston Globe editorial, most companies occupying the space “will have fewer than 15 employees, and will have access to office space, laboratory benches, and communal equipment like computer-controlled lathes, 3-D printers, and laser cutters. The equipment will enable companies to produce their own parts and prototypes on-site, Ryden says.” The article also notes that although “the building MassRobotics will occupy is owned by the City of Boston, Ryden said that the money for the space came from corporate sponsors, rather than the city or the state. There’s room for an eventual expansion to another floor, Ryden said, but that would require additional funding. ‘We already know that we’re going to outgrow this initial space.’”

You can read more on the Boston Globe, here.

0 GE Closes in on Seaport HQ Construction

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GE HQ in Fort Point Boston

Credit: BBJ

The GE campus in Boston’s Seaport has taken its first step in the construction process with the city issuing building permits to asbestos abatement.

From the Boston Business Journal:

Brian M. Campbell on Dec. 22 received a $258,000 building permit for the buildings at 5 and 6 Necco Court. Work will include asbestos and lead abatement in the properties, as well as selective interior demolition to access the surfaces impacted by those materials, the building permit states.

The two five-story Necco buildings date to the early 1900s and are former factories for New England Confectionary Co., which made NECCO wafers. Together, the buildings span 110,000 square feet. GE plans to rehabilitate the brick-and-beam buildings into 95,400 square feet of gross floor area…The campus will also include a newly built 12-story office, which includes a solar veil and an illuminated GE logo. The three buildings together will span 388,070 square feet and include 61,490 square feet of outdoor public space.

0 GE’s Fort Point Channel HQ Gains Approval

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GE HQ in Boston

Credit: Boston Globe

The new GE headquarters has moved closer to a reality in Seaport District of Boston.

The Boston Globe reports, “the board of the Boston Planning and Development Agency Tuesday approved the three-building complex, which includes a striking new 12-story glass building, topped off by a giant, sail-like solar “veil” and an illuminated GE logo. The project still needs zoning and environmental approvals, but GE said it on track to break ground early next year and have at least some of the three-building complex open in 2018.”

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

0 Boston Seaport Still Emerging

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Rendering of an upcoming Boston Seaport development

Credit: New York Times

The Boston Seaport is the perfect assemblage of the old and new for live, work and play.

A recently NYTimes article on the Seaport notes the following:

Thomas M. Menino, a city mayor who died in 2014, had envisioned the area, just across the Fort Point Channel from downtown as an “innovation district,” with state-of-the-art office space, plenty of walk-to-work apartments, numerous restaurants, and pedestrian-friendly streets and parks. Since 2000, the area has gained 10 million square feet of development and more than 4,000 residents. And in recent years, the appetite for a Seaport address has only increased, such that 2,700 residential units and 1.3 million square feet of office space are now in some stage of construction, according to the Boston Redevelopment Authority.

From upstart technology companies to cutting-edge biomedical firms to traditional corporate giants, the Seaport is attracting businesses to both brick-and-beam style office space in old industrial buildings and to new glass office towers overlooking Boston Harbor.

Continue reading for more info and related listings for Seaport office space.