0 Seaport Tower Initiates Office Leasing

Posted on March 19, 2017 by Wil Catlin

Credit: Banker and Tradesman

Looking for space in Boston’s Seaport? 121 Seaport Boulevard, being developed by Skanska, is looking for you. The office building will spread 400,000 square-feet, across 17 floors that are virtually column-free.

From Banker and Tradesman:

Promoted as Boston’s first elliptical tower, the design squeezed efficiencies out of its chilled beam heating and cooling system, said David Nagahiro, a principal at CBT. That eliminated the need for a large fan room in the core space on each floor, enabling nearly 86 percent of each floor to be leasable space.

“This is the most efficient floor plate in the city,” Nagahiro said.

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

Posted on February 17, 2017 by Wil Catlin

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 Harbor Way Key to Seaport Square Development

Posted on February 16, 2017 by Wil Catlin

Credit: Boston Globe

The Seaport has evolved as a live, work and play destination recent years and WS has an interesting spin on, Harbor Way.

From the Boston Globe:

Seaport Square is a 23-acre parcel that stretches from Northern Avenue to Summer Street and represents the last chance for the district to save itself from becoming a sea of generic office and condo buildings and a playground for those who can only afford it.

WS thinks Boston’s answer to Manhattan’s High Line is the Harbor Way, a tree-lined pedestrian promenade that will connect Summer Street to the water’s edge by Fan Pier. The thoroughfare will extend a third of a mile through Seaport Square and hook up with the HarborWalk in an attempt to finally make the Seaport District pedestrian friendly.

0 Solution Needed for Truck Traffic in Boston Seaport

Posted on February 11, 2017 by Wil Catlin

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.

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

Posted on January 27, 2017 by Wil Catlin

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 Boston Office Trends: Seaport, Kendall Sq. and Back Bay Near pre-2008 Crash

Posted on January 25, 2017 by Wil Catlin

Image Credit: Boston Globe

The value option in Boston office leasing, the Financial District, holds the single largest concentration of office space and workers. Submarkets like the Seaport, Kendall Square, and Back Bay are pushing numbers in excess of the pre-2008 crash.

From the Boston Globe:

Data from the Boston office of Colliers International show that vacancy rates for the upper reaches of buildings in the Financial District — floors 20 and above — are at their highest in nearly a decade. And as a whole, the Financial District lost more tenants per square foot in 2016 than any other area in the city, ending up with nearly 850,000 more square feet of vacant space than in 2015…The Seaport District remains the new “it” address, with companies leasing an additional 400,000 feet of office space in 2016.

0 GE Closes in on Seaport HQ Construction

Posted on January 10, 2017 by Wil Catlin

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 Reebok Headed to Boston’s Seaport District

Posted on December 12, 2016 by Wil Catlin

A retail store, running track, and a new Corporate Headquarters are coming to Boston Seaport curtesy of Reebok.

Credit: BBJ

From the Boston Business Journal:

The athletic gear maker, which is currently based in Canton, said Wednesday it will occupy 220,000 square feet and five floors of space at the Innovation & Design Building by next fall. About 700 employees will work from the office.

“Our vision is to bring ‘The Home of Fitness,’ which we’ve created at our Canton HQ, to this new location,” said Reebok President Matt O’Toole in a statement. “We have a goal of being the fittest, healthiest workplace in the country, and this new location will go a long way in helping us achieve this goal. It will be a workplace unlike any other in the city, with amenities that will not only benefit our employees, but the local community as well.”

0 Seaport Shows New Signs of Development

Posted on October 27, 2016 by Wil Catlin

The Seaport neighborhood continues to grow. The latest announcement doesn’t involve a large office tenant moving from the Financial District to occupy a new tower; rather it allows those that live, work, or play in the Seaport today the ability to visit a local pharmacy: CVS.

boston_seaport_watermark_development

From Bizjournals:

CVS Pharmacy officially opened on Sunday in the luxury apartment building Watermark Seaport at 85 Seaport Boulevard. The new store spans 11,590 square feet.

“From the very early stages of development in the Seaport District, it was our top priority to bring a state-of-the-art pharmacy to the area. The thousands of residents and professionals living and working in the Seaport now have the convenience of a one stop store for their everyday needs; we are proud to fill this void and to do so with a brand as reputable as CVS,” said Brian Sciera, vice president of leasing at building owner WS Development in a statement.

0 Wharf District Council Envisions Boston Waterfront Transformation

Posted on October 26, 2016 by Wil Catlin

Credit: BBJ

The Boston waterfront is seeing an unprecedented transformation of office, residential and retail developments, and the Wharf Council is following suite with a new blueprint for the future.

The Wharf District Council’s “public-realm vision” is a plan to improve public spaces surrounding Boston’s waterfront, spanning from the Northern Avenue bridge through Christopher Columbus park.

From the Boston Business Journal:

The plan’s proponents say it’s a necessary supplement to tie together disparate planning efforts. It would create a showcase for art installations and iconic attractions, historic markers and “active gathering experiences.” The plan includes a combined 212,187 square feet in open-space improvements at three key development sites: Marriott Long Wharf, the Harbor Garage and Hook Lobster.

The total cost estimate for the projects outlined in the visioning plan ranges from $24.8 million to $37.8 million, but financing — not to mention who would take on the actual execution of the vision — is unclear. Ris suggested developers looking to transform the three key waterfront parcels could kick in the money.