0 Boston Ranks Among Top 10 Most-Innovative Cities

Posted on March 26, 2015 by Wil Catlin

Boston is No. 1 among our peers for innovation. Let us help bring your ideas to life.

The BBJ looked into the details of a NerdWallet study, noting “Boston didn’t score as well around patents per capita, receiving 4.83 patents per 1,000 residents over a four-year span; San Jose scored highest with 27.39 patents per capita. But Boston did score well when it comes to venture capital per capita, raking in $948.58 per capita — right below Boulder, Colorado ($963.75) and San Jose ($3,585.68).”

You can read the full article on the BBJ.

0 Largest Office Buildings in Boston

Posted on October 20, 2014 by Wil Catlin

Click on the image to view the John Hancock Tower property detail page

Which office building in Boston stands the tallest, and how does yours rank? In Boston’s Back Bay, the John Hancock Towers reigns supreme.

Some facts about the building:

60 Stories
Designed by Henry N. Cobb of the firm I. M. Pei & Partners
Completed in 1976
It has been the tallest building in Boston and New England for more than 30 years

The Boston Business Journal has put together a list of the top 25 largest office buildings in Greater Boston, ranked by Total Rentable Building Area.

Credit: Boston Business Journal

0 Boston Cab Union Protests Uber

Posted on May 28, 2014 by Wil Catlin

Credit: Boston Business Journal

Do you Uber when you are touring office space for lease in Boston? Well, yes. Will Uber be here tomorrow or with the Cab Union prevail?

The Boston Business Journal reported that “the union, representing 1,400 cab drivers, is calling on Boston Mayor Marty Walshand Police Commissioner William Evans to order all UberX and UberXL for-hire vehicles off the streets of Boston until the city can regulate and license all Uberdrivers and cars.”

Follow the link to view the full BBJ article for details on the Cab Union Uber protests.

0 International Place to Host Boston Ballet’s The Nutcracker

Posted on December 11, 2013 by Wil Catlin

Boston Ballet putting on a performance of The Nutcracker

Boston Ballet’s The Nutcracker

Call me old fashioned, but I love group gatherings and large-scale events, like the Boston Ballet’s The Nutcracker. I am always thankful that owners like the The Chiofaro Co. of International Place host festive, public events for all to come and appreciate.

Additional coverage is available on the Boston Business Journal.

Also, on newscast in recent days, there was a great flash mob event by the United States Air Force Band at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington:

0 MBTA Announces Late-night Service in 2014

Posted on December 4, 2013 by Wil Catlin

Credit: Boston Globe

Boston is no longer comprised of 9 – 5 workers. Our city has evolved to a 24-hour workforce and our infrastructure and services need to play catchup. Great news for all those getting off work after midnight: starting in 2014, the MBTA will run late-night weekend train and bus service.

From The Boston Globe:

the T will run all subway trains and the 15 most popular bus routes until 3 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Yes, the T is still cash-strapped, and the state budget remains tight, but Governor Deval Patrick has found about $20 million, along with pledges from corporate sponsors, to launch a one-year pilot program to begin in March or April.

The full Globe article on the upcoming late-night MBTA sevice is available, here.

0 Development underway on $320 million mixed-use building near Fenway

Posted on October 18, 2013 by Wil Catlin

Rendering of proposed mixed-use development in Fenway on Boylston Street

Credit: Boston Business Journal

Would you take a $320 million gamble? It appears the Boston office market will embrace it. We have seen office vacancy’s drop while rents have continued upward over the recent years. The Boston office market has tremendous barriers to entry for new product, thus creating a supply and demand problem. Tenants are anxious to capitalize on the benefits of new construction, which allows them to be more efficient with the square footage per employee.

Developer Samuels & Associates is attempting to capitalize on the trend, beginning construction on a new office building on Boylston Street in Fenway. An article on the Boston Business Journal’s website reports:

Samuels & Associates is underway with construction of VanNess, a $320 million mixed-use project fronting on Boylston Street near Fenway Park. Slated for completion in 2015, the project is designed to include two buildings: an 8-story building housing 232,000 square feet of office space and another 11-story building with 172 residential apartments. The development also will include 210,000 square feet of retail space anchored by a 170,000-square-foot City Target, a new small-footprint store format launched by Target Corp. last year. There will also be about a dozen other retailers.

The full article is available on the BBJ.

Related Office Listings
Fenway Office Space

0 Mayor Menino’s Legacy

Posted on October 12, 2013 by Wil Catlin

What will we remember Mayor Menino for? For me, his passion. I did not always agree with his position on issues, but I loved his passion for the job.

Boston Magazine just published a retrospective, of sorts, outlining Mayor Menino’s hits and misses in office. The list includes what the magazine’s editors deem to be “the best and worst of his time in office.” If nothing else, it’s a timely read and an interesting recap of one of the more active Mayors in Boston’s history.

The article can be found on Boston Magazine’s website, here.

0 Boston Mayoral Candidate, Walsh, Would be Pro-Development

Posted on October 9, 2013 by Wil Catlin

Credit: Banker & Tradesman

If you are a single issue voter and a developer, your choice could be clear.

A well-organized Banker & Tradesman editorial has outlined the mayoral race with respect to each candidate’s potential impact on commercial real estate market:

But the Dorchester state rep is also popular with the developers and construction bosses, tough, no-nonsense men he has surely dealt with on the other side of the negotiating table, scooping up several thousand dollars in campaign contributions in the last month alone. This flood of cash from well-off builders underscores a key, if little-examined, facet of Boston’s pivotal mayoral race: Other than electing International Place builder Don Chiofaro or Suffolk Construction czar John Fish to the mayor’s office, it’s hard to imagine a potential future chief executive of Boston who is likely to be more aggressively pro-development than Walsh.

The full editorial is available on the B&T website.

0 Boston Office Rents Climb 3.5 percent

Posted on October 9, 2013 by Wil Catlin

Credit: Boston Herald

This is only part of the story. True, rental rates have risen, but the overall occupancy cost has risen even more than just the rental rates. In a rising market, like we are currently in, landlord’s contribute less in tenant improvement costs and offer much less rent abatement. This then translates into a higher occupancy cost. During a down market, a landlord could offer 125 percent of the first years rent to go improvements of the space, that number now could be 75 percent of the first years rent.

The Boston Herald’s analysis notes “office rents in Greater Boston grew at an even higher rate — 3.9 percent — primarily due to strong growth in Cambridge, downtown Boston and the northwest submarket, the report found. And rents may begin to rise at an even faster rate because employment levels in office jobs are reaching pre-recession levels.”

The Herald article can be found here: Hub Office Rates Jump

0 Eight Leases at 85 Devonshire St / 262 Washington St in Boston

Posted on October 2, 2013 by Wil Catlin

Office Building at 85 Devonshire Street / 262 Washington Street in Boston

Our downtown leasing team has assisted KS Partners in in leasing over 24,000 square feet at 85 Devonshire and 262 Washington Street.

CityBizList reported on the results:

“New tenants include Barletta Engineering, represented by Vesper Realty Advisors, Inc., Executive Offices for the Massachusetts Community Colleges and AnnKissam, both represented by Colliers International, Autism Speaks, represented by Newmark Grubb Knight Frank and REsurety on a direct basis….The building is located in Downtown Crossing and provides access to all major MBTA T stops and food and retail amenities, including the new Walgreens flagship store.”

The full CityBizList article is available here