0 Final Proposals Named for Northern Avenue Bridge Redesign

Posted on June 10, 2016 by Wil Catlin

Rendering of Norther Ave. Bridge redesign

Credit: Boston Business Journal

The Northern Avenue Bridge has arrived at the final 4. Next to follow are the RFP’s from the City of Boston.

From the BBJ:

The city of Boston and the Boston Society of Architects announced the winners of a competition Thursday that would reimagine the Northern Avenue Bridge, the now-closed dilapidated structure that serves as a link between downtown and the burgeoning Seaport District.

The four winning ideas — chosen by a jury assembled by the city and the BSA — range from a plan to place an elevated civic space in the middle of a revamped bridge to one that places a “greenhouse where botanical gardens flourish year round.”

You can read more about the final four Northern Ave. Bridge proposals on the BBJ.

0 Boston Seaport District Lands Starbucks Reserve Cafe

Posted on June 7, 2016 by Wil Catlin

The Seaport’s 101 Seaport Boulevard will be home to the latest offering from Starbucks Reserve Cafes, AKA, ultra-Starbucks with a premium price of $4 per coffee.

Banker&Tradesman notes “the Seattle coffee giant plans to open one of its “ultra-premium” Starbucks Reserve cafes this summer at 101 Seaport, a 17-story office building that is anchored by the regional headquarters of PwC…Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz recently told analysts the company plans to build more than 500 “coffee-forward” Starbucks Reserve stores in select global cities. Decked out in rustic decor, the new stores offer small-lot coffee batches brewed with a variety of techniques including siphoning, pour-over, espresso and Chemex. The stores also sell Teavana loose-leaf and packaged teas. The new cafes also come with a price premium, with a small coffee selling for $4 at a location that opened this year in Manhattan, according to Business Insider.”

You can read the full article on the Banker and Tradesman website, here.

0 Proposal Submitted to Illuminate Congress St. Bridge

Posted on May 31, 2016 by Wil Catlin

Credit: Boston Herald

The Congress Street Bridge could be newly illuminated by N.H.-based Port Lighting, which would bring a new feel from dusk to dawn.

According to a Boston Herald article, “Port Lighting, working with Salem lighting designer Available Light, wants to illuminate the Congress Street bridge over Fort Point Channel with a series of 29 lit boxes symbolic of tea chests from the Boston Tea Party, along with color-changing spotlights and LED-lit lanterns.

You can read additional details on the Boston Herald, here.

0 Seaport is Bustling; Time To Find Boston’s next Hot Neighborhood

Posted on May 31, 2016 by Wil Catlin

Credit: Boston Globe

Prior to having a Starbucks, some complain that there isn’t a Starbucks around; once Starbucks opens in the area, some complain that the neighborhood has become gentrified.

Take this passage from a recent Banker and Tradesman article as affirmation:

A new Starbucks has opened facing the Fort Point Channel on Congress Street across from the Children’s Museum. And with that, it is official: the Seaport has been gentrified. The search for the next hot neighborhood must begin now, because the Seaport has jumped the shark…Hyperbolic, perhaps, but nonetheless true. The neighborhood’s conversion from the gritty artist community of Fort Point to the shiny office tower haven of the Seaport is all but complete.

Simple enough, the Seaport has seen a dramatic transformation and has some of the most expensive office building trades in Boston – in excess of $1,000 per square foot at 101 Seaport Boulevard.

Available Office Space Listings
Seaport Office Space for Lease

0 Multiple Winthrop Square Proposals Under Consideration

Posted on May 23, 2016 by Wil Catlin

Rendering of Winthrop square development

Credit: Banker and Tradesman

The Winthrop tower development site can take a couple of different paths, mixed use or all residential.

From Banker & Tradesman:

The two largest development proposals for Boston’s Winthrop Square have starkly different visions for an overlooked corner of the Financial District. Both developers Steve Belkin and Thomas O’Brien propose 725-foot-tall towers with a substantial allotment of luxury condominiums, reflecting the current market’s hottest category. But their approaches diverge in satisfying the Boston Redevelopment Authority’s requirements for an innovative economic development strategy and new downtown public spaces.

Six developers submitted mixed-use proposals for the 1-acre municipal garage site at 115 Federal St. The BRA will hear presentations from them in coming weeks with a goal of designating a developer by the end of June. That would set the stage for a review under the BRA’s Article 80 process for large developments later this year.

Related Property Listings
Current Winthrop Square Office Space for Lease

0 Seaport Transportation Center Defined

Posted on May 9, 2016 by Wil Catlin

Credit: Boston Globe

The new name is the Seaport Transportation Center. No longer is it just a place to park your car, it will house Zipcar vehicles and Hubway bikes.

From the Boston Globe:

‘The goal, chief executive Thomas Glynn said, is to reflect the wider services that Massport hopes to accommodate at the complex. Along with Zipcar and Hubway, there could be space for Seaport shuttles and information for people walking through the area…Calling it the Seaport Transportation Center, that really captured more of the ancillary services it can provide,’ Glynn said. ‘We have the opportunity here to do more than just a garage.’

Construction could begin as soon as this fall, he said, and could be complete by the end of 2017, depending on how long it takes to secure permits. The project could cost as much as $90 million.

0 GE Names Architect for Seaport HQ

Posted on May 2, 2016 by Wil Catlin

Credit: BBJ

Well, now we know who to ask what GE’s new Seaport office will look like: Doug Gensler.

From the Boston Business Journal:

Some of Gensler’s notable local work includes the architecture for Boston Properties’ (NYSE: BXP) Hub on Causeway project, a 1.5 million-square-foot mixed-use project at North Station that will include a retail podium, office tower and hotel and residential tower. In the fall, a Gensler architect had created a rendering of the Hub on Causeway office with the logo “Plum” as the city of Boston was courting GE to relocate its headquarters using a code name “Project Plum.”

GE said in a statement that it “asked important and challenging questions about employee inspiration and teaming, environmental sustainability, and integration into the Boston innovation ecosystem” when considering architects. The headquarters must have a global scale and feel, GE said, while still remaining rooted in Boston.

0 Logan Airport Influenced GE’s Selection of Fort Point HQ

Posted on April 18, 2016 by Wil Catlin

logan airport with office space in the background

Credit: BBJ

Good enough for GE, good enough for me. Boston is number one for a major U.S. city with its international airport 3.5 miles from downtown.

A recent BBJ article notes, “access to transportation is one of the key reasons that General Electric Co. set its sights on Boston’s Fort Point neighborhood for its new headquarters, said Gov. Charlie Baker at a business luncheon in Waltham on Wednesday. Not necessarily public transportation, he said, but air transportation.

“The airport has dramatically expanded its domestic nonstop capacity and international nonstop capacity with all kinds of plans to continue to grow its international nonstop capacity over the course of the next decade,” he said at the Massachusetts High Technology Council’s annual meeting at Bentley University in Waltham on Wednesday. “That starts to look really special and that’s not necessarily something we think about when we think about why GE put Boston and Massachusetts on the map.”

What Cities Gain When Their Airports Are Close to Downtown. This is a piece that came out in 2012, interesting enough, we don’t move our airports or our city centers.

0 Congress Street Bridge will be Illuminated at Night

Posted on April 9, 2016 by Wil Catlin

Credit: Boston Herald

The use of light as art with bridges as a canvas have become the mainstay of nightlife in our cities. The Bay Bridge lighting designed by Leo Villareal is a captivating light show over the Bay. I look forward to what is in store for Congress Street.

Some of my other favorites are from the London Olympics:

Credit: Jenikya.com

Bridge with neon lights glowing at night

Credit: jenikya.com

0 GE Picks Seaport Office Space in Fort Point Channel

Posted on April 3, 2016 by Wil Catlin

Credit: The Boston Globe

GE has selected their location for the new corporate headquarters that sits on the edge of the Seaport overlooking Boston’s Financial District.

From the Boston Globe:

GE on Thursday said that it has reached a deal with Procter & Gamble to buy a roughly 2.5-acre piece of Gillette’s South Boston campus along Fort Point Channel, near the Summer Street Bridge and a short walk from South Station.

There, the company plans to rehab two empty brick warehouses — relics of the industrial waterfront — and construct a new building on a portion of an adjacent parking lot. There will be a large sign visible from downtown and public space that will showcase GE’s storied history. The location is firmly in Fort Point, a funky neighborhood full of smaller tech and creative firms that GE wants to tap as it transforms its business.