0 Seaport Square Looks to Anchor Transformed Boston Neighborhood

Posted on November 24, 2014 by Wil Catlin

Credit: Banker & Tradesman

Movies, bowling and fitness are on their way to the Seaport. The Seaport transformation continues to evolve as more neighborhoods amenities are added, along with the designation of Seaport Square.

From Banker&Tradesman:

“Seaport Square master developer Boston Global Investors and Morgan Stanley acquired the 23-acre parcels, most covered with surface parking, from News Corp. in 2006. The full buildout would contain enough space to fill more than five Prudential Towers…The next phase will be a 450,000-square-foot office building on the parcel directly east of One Seaport Square. The site is currently occupied by Our Lady of Good Voyage chapel, which will be relocated to 51 Seaport Boulevard. Hynes said the office building could be built on speculation beginning in 2016.”

0 1,700-car Garage Plotted for South Boston Waterfront

Posted on November 24, 2014 by Wil Catlin

The growth of the Seaport District has created a number of challenges and one of the prominent ones is parking. Massport is looking to offer some relief to this by building a 1,700 car garage atop the Pike.

Credit: WaterSideBoston.com

The Boston Globe offers details on the proposed parking additions, noting it “would be built over a strengthened section of the turnpike tunnel near the World Trade Center complex. Although the site is about a third of a mile from the Seaport Square area, where visitors to Fan Pier and attractions like the Institute of Contemporary Art vie for parking with workers from the adjacent financial district, Massport said the parking garage would be vital for apartments and a planned hotel near the convention center.

For more information on the proposed South Boston Waterfront Garage, jump over to the Boston Globe’s website

0 Sales of New Boston Office Towers to Boost Rent Prices

Posted on November 21, 2014 by Wil Catlin

Credit: Banker&Tradesman

Office rents will continue to rise and I expect this to continue through 2015 and into 2016. The buyers of the recent office buildings will be looking for their return on investment and that will come from increasing the price per foot they charge tenants.

Banker & Tradesman reports the stage was set “for the big rent hikes to come has been a frenzy of office tower sales in the Financial District, Back Bay and Seaport over the last six months…More than 5.5 million square feet of office tower space changed hands or has been placed under contract between July and September, Collins and Regensburg note in a piece for the New England Real Estate Journal. Another 4 million square feet has hit the market or is about to.”

Additional details on the new office towers and projected office rent rates is available on Banker&Tradesman’s website, here.

0 Boston Office Market is Positioned for Continued Growth

Posted on November 10, 2014 by Wil Catlin

The Boston office and retail market is expected to continue its upward march.

Credit: multihousingnews.com

According to an editorial on MultiHousingNews.com, “developers completed approximately 4.2 million square feet of office space over the last 12 months as compared to merely 1.4 million square feet in the previous year. Around 5.2 million square feet currently under construction in the metro area is expected to come online throughout 2016. According to Marcus & Millichap, approximately 3.2 million square feet of office space is set for completion by the end of 2014—a 1 percent increase from 2013—with new inventory being heavily concentrated in the Boston/Suffolk County and Route 128 North submarkets.”

For a detailed indicator of the Boston office market direction, jump over to the MultiHousingNews website.

0 Seasoned Fort Point Landlords Ready to Cash Out

Posted on November 7, 2014 by Wil Catlin

The Seaport is for sale! The landlord’s that have participated in the lease of up to 3.7 million square feet of new tenant space since 2010, are looking to cash out and move onto new opportunities. Class B rents have surpassed the $40.00 per square foot mark on Summer Street.

Boston's fort-point neighborhood in the downtown Seaport district

Credit: cityofboston.gov

Banker and Tradesman points out that “nearly 750,000 square feet of office space is currently on the market, or nearly one-fifth of the neighborhood’s office inventory. The six properties include the Thomson Reuters office portfolio, an assemblage of 10 buildings containing 414,000 square feet of brick-and-beam space.The transactions will go a long way toward determining whether Fort Point can retain its status as an Innovation District, or whether rents set by the new owners will force startups to look elsewhere.”

Additional information on the transformative Fort Point neighborhood is available on B&T’s website.

0 Defining Boston’s Seaport District

Posted on November 6, 2014 by Wil Catlin

Credit: BBJ

The Seaport, formerly known as the South Boston Waterfront has not only evolved, but arrived. Interestingly it is not as clearly defined geographically as one might think. One border is the Fort Point Channel and another is Boston Harbor. Beyond that, it is up to some interpretation.

According to CoStar, the border continues to West 2nd Street and East 2nd Street. The core of the Seaport in my opinion consists of: Summer Street, Congress Street and Seaport Boulevard and the various intersecting streets. The Boston Design Center, Convention Center and Wormwood Street would also be included.

The Boston Business Journal quantifies the growth, noting, the Seaport District “already has a population bigger than Beacon Hill’s, and more radical change is on the short-term horizon. Some of the region’s most experienced developers are pushing forward projects that within three years should create more than 2,500 housing units. City planners see another doubling in housing stock, to 10,000 units, by 2030.

0 101 Seaport Boulevard Set to Open Oct. 2015

Posted on October 9, 2014 by Wil Catlin

Credit: Banker&Tradesman

The Seaport office marker continues to grow with 101 Seaport Boulevard scheduled to host its new tenant PwC in October of 2015.

Banker and Tradesman observes, “construction crews from Skanska and its subcontractors attended a ceremony Tuesday as the final steel beam was placed atop the structure to complete the framing phase of the project…The parcel is part of the 23-acre Seaport Square development that is permitted for 6.35 million square feet of residential and commercial development. Skanska acquired the one-acre 101 Seaport parcel for $33 million from Morgan Stanley and Boston Global Investors in 2012.”

The full B&T article is available here: Aggressive Timetable For PwC Tower In Seaport

0 Seaport Office Rent Exceeds Boston Financial District

Posted on October 5, 2014 by Wil Catlin

Seaport District: 320 West Second Street (click on the image for property details)

The most expensive office market in Boston is Back Bay. Not surprising. The surprising piece of news is the Seaport and Innovation District is the second most expensive office market in Boston, edging out the Financial District by over a $1.00 PSF. So the value play is the Class A low rise and Class B within the Financial District.

“‘For the first time in at least the last seven quarters if not ever, average asking rents in Boston’s burgeoning Seaport District have surpassed asking rents in the city’s Financial District, according to new data from real estate brokerage Jones Lang LaSalle,’ published on the BBJ. “The highest rate of year-over-year rent growth was in the Seaport District, where landlords were asking 24.7 percent more in the third quarter of 2014 than during the third quarter of 2013.”

Additional details on the market discrepancy are available in the full Boston Business Journal article.

0 Boston Wharf Co. Building at 51 Melcher Sells for $52.7M

Posted on August 23, 2014 by Wil Catlin

For $513.49 PSF Synergy Investments has sold 51 Melcher Street to Zurich North America. The building went through a complete renovation and was delivered fully leased to WeWork, Life is Good, and NetSuite.

According to Banker & Tradesman, “Synergy spent millions of dollars repositioning the building in the market, including base building renovations, a new main entrance and lobby, HVAC systems, new and restored windows and new roof, restrooms, plumbing, electrical service and elevators.”

Pricing with the Seaport Class B Market now is running in the upper $30’s to low $40’s PSF.

Click to view the full size graphic

0 Boston Markets Blend History and Modernity

Posted on August 9, 2014 by Wil Catlin

Seaport office space at 281 Summer St.

For a 400 year old city, we are experiencing record growth with billions being invested into new office, residential, and retail projects in areas of the city that were previously left for dirt lots or industrial space.

Bisnow.com, offers some historical perspective on the alternation and modernization of the hub over just the past decade:

“A decade ago, the waterfront—just across Fort Point Channel from the downtown Financial District—was still seen as the home of a languishing commercial port. Now the Seaport, aka the Innovation District, has new infrastructure, new buildings like Hanover’s (above), and a flock of cranes bringing more product online. Skanska is building a new HQ for PwC; State Street recently completed its relo into Channel Center; The Drew Co is quickly leasing apartments at Waterside Place; and The Fallon Co is selling super luxury condos on Fan Pier. The Seaport has come alive, Douglass says, with spectacular views and a condo market that’s heating up.”