0 South Station Tower Adds International Investors

Posted on May 30, 2016 by Wil Catlin

Rendering of a proposed office tower over South Station

Credit: Boston Globe

The proposed 51-story tower at South Station has attracted Gemdale Properties of China. Development rights for this project expire in April of 2017.

From the Boston Globe:

Houston-based Hines said the upper floors of the 51-story tower now include plans for 175 condominiums, with office space below. Thursday night, it won approval from the Boston Redevelopment Authority to bring a new majority investor — an arm of big Chinese builder Gemdale Properties — into the project.

“We are delighted to join in this venture with Hines to develop such an important and well-located project in a city which is exhibiting some of the strongest office and residential condominium market fundamentals in the US,” Gemdale said in a prepared statement.

0 Range of Boston Offices Considered for GE HQ

Posted on April 25, 2016 by Wil Catlin

Credit: Boston Business Journal

The selection for GE’s site didn’t come without evaluating many other options that ranged from Back Bay to North Station.

From the BBJ:

Boston officials initially considered 20 development sites, both a mix of private and publicly owned buildings and land parcels, to pitch to GE. And first on the list that Boston officials considered was Fort Point’s “100 Acres Area” — a master-planned effort to transform the existing surface parking lots around the Procter & Gamble/Gillette plant, and GE’s ultimate final choice for its permanent headquarters locations.

The sites were eventually narrowed to seven final options, five of which were located in the Seaport District, in a Dec. 1 pitch book to GE (NYSE: GE) executives. GE’s ultimate choice for a headquarters — a 2.5-acre plot on the Fort Point Channel owned by Procter & Gamble Co. — was not highlighted in the final pitch book.

0 Interest Renewed in South Station air-rights Development

Posted on April 19, 2016 by Wil Catlin

Architects rendering of south station air-rights development

Credit: BBJ

Texas and South Station come together. It appears that Hines from Texas is dusting off the plans of South Station that last saw the light of day over 10 years ago.

From the Boston Business Journal:

The Boston Redevelopment Authority in 2006 initially approved a development plan from Hines and Tufts University affiliate TUDC Inc. for a 1.8 million-square-foot mixed-use air-rights development, to be built in three phases between the back of South Station and the existing bus terminal. At the time, plans included a 40-story office tower, a nine-story office building and a 13-story building that contained 200 hotel rooms as well as up to 195,000 square feet of residential space. The three towers were slated to range in height from 183 feet to 678 feet total, according to a 2006 development plan.

Representatives from Hines have been to Boston’s City Hall several times in recent months to discuss the project and potential changes. If Hines were to move forward with a project that’s significantly different than the project the BRA approved in 2006, the firm would need to file a notice of project change, said BRA spokesperson Nick Martin. That would kick off additional project reviews such as a public comment period and approval from the BRA board, Martin said.

0 Downtown Boston Parcel near I-93 is Available for Redevelopment

Posted on April 19, 2016 by Wil Catlin

Credit: Boston Business Journal

New development opportunities in the city of Boston are being offered up by the State. Are you looking for 5.5 acres for your new corporate headquarters within walking distance of South Station?

From the BBJ:

A 5.5-acre state-owned parcel of land between Chinatown and South Station is being made available for redevelopment, creating as much as 2 million square feet of new construction, Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker and Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh announced this morning.

The site is located at 185 and 165 Kneeland St., currently home to the District 6 headquarters for the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway Conservancy office and the Veolia Energy steam plant. The MassDOT district headquarters will be relocated or replaced, and a scaled-down version of the Veolia North America plant will be included as part of the redevelopment, state officials said.

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.

0 USPS Focus on South Boston Location

Posted on February 21, 2016 by Wil Catlin

Credit: Banker&Tradesman

The largest commuter hub North of New York City is South Station, yet the largest abutter is a mail sorting facility. In 1965, yes 51 years ago, part of the site was sold and the Boston South Postal Annex was created. A number of things have changed since 1965 and some still need to; the Boston South Postal Annex should be redeveloped to better serve the community.

According to a B&T report, rather than “expanding the search to other Boston neighborhoods, or for that matter, suburban locations, the brokers working for the postal service have doubled down on Southie…Now brokers working for the postal service say they are moving closer to a deal for a site on D Street near the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center, where traditional South Boston meets the Seaport.

You can read more on the USPS’s hunt for space in Southie on Banker&Tradesman.

0 Dorchester Avenue Eyed for Development

Posted on December 22, 2015 by Wil Catlin

Credit: Boston Globe

Dot Ave is on the move in the city with the BRA signaling a change in zoning. According to public record Dot Ave has:

363 Parcels
$3,675,133 is tax revenue

According to the Boston Globe, “the Boston Redevelopment Authority is circulating sketches of what a stretch of the street lined by low-rise warehouses and staging yards would look like as a corridor of retail and apartment buildings, some as tall as 300 feet. There would be parks laced throughout, with better sidewalks and 12 blocks of new streets added in back toward the South Bay Rail Yard…zoning plans are the clearest progress yet after months of community meetings to rezone the Dorchester Ave. corridor…The plan would radically remake a three-quarter-mile-long, light industrial area north of the Andrew MBTA station into a walkable, transit-accessible hub of new housing, with green space and pleasant storefronts.”

You can read more on the proposed Dorchester Avenue development on the Boston Globe.

0 Envoy Hotel Offers Comfortable Getaway within Boston’s Seaport

Posted on November 15, 2015 by Wil Catlin

Credit: Boston Herald

How far is far enough to “get away?” Well, according to Moira McCarthy the Seaport Envoy Hotel fits the bill. Check it out next time you are considering a Boston destination.

From the Boston Herald:

Tucked into the edge of Boston Harbor (it gazes down upon the iconic Barking Crab restaurant), the hotel offers a new and distinctive feel for a Boston stay, but with enough classic Boston and seaside to remind us what an amazing city we live in. There’s even a rooftop bar…Warm and almost beachy, and touched with the hotel’s signature yellow and lots of reclaimed wood, the lobby featured classic games such as Connect Four, deep and comfortable conversation-pit-style couches, artistic touches like a chandelier made from reclaimed materials, and an open feel.

You can read a first-person account’s of their stay in the Boston Herald.