0 125 Summer St. Poised for ‘Big Upgrade’

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Summer Street commercial real estate in Boston

Credit: BBJ

The Boston office market is seeing strong rent growth in all classes and in all CBD submarkets. Landlords continue to try to differentiate their buildings by offering amenities and upgrades. Oxford is making a big splash in this space with lobby upgrade at 125 Summer Street in the Financial District.

According to the BBJ, Oxford is planning “a $10 million project to upgrade the building’s ground floor and lobby and reposition the entrance of the building to the confluence of Summer and High streets. The renovation was designed by ADD Inc., now with Stantec, while Turner Construction Co. is the general contractor…Oxford [recently] teased the renovation by erecting a two-story kelly green and navy blue banner at the site of what will become the entrance to 125 Summer St. with an all-caps proclamation: “Something big is coming.”

You can read the full article on the Boston Business Journal’s website.

Property Detail Page
125 Summer Street

0 Multiple Winthrop Square Proposals Under Consideration

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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 Tips to Temper Political Discussions in the Office

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Colleagues in office

Credit: BBJ

My mom used to say that politics, sex and religion were off limits in open conversations unless you know your audience.  What policy is in place at your workplace?

The BBJ recently posted a guide, of sorts, offering tips for keeping political discussions in the workplace ‘respectful’ during this coming election season.

Its five recommendations are the following:

1. Limit disruptions to the work environment
2. Know what activity is protected
3. Remain neutral
4. Update your employee handbook
5. Prepare for election day

You can read more on the Boston Business Journal’s website.

0 Boston Earmarks $9.3M for Cyclist and Pedestrian Safety

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Bike riders commute around Boston

Credit: Boston.com

The city of Boston cares about your safety and if you ride you bike they want to make it better for you. The city will be spending $9.3 million over the next 3 years to improve infrastructure focused on safety.

From Boston.com:

“The objective is to … make [streets] safer, and we do that by design,” Vineet Gupta, the director of policy and planning for the city’s transportation department, told Boston.com.

This year, the city will prioritize four areas in need of improvements: Massachusetts Avenue, the Talbot-Norfolk Triangle in Dorchester near Codman Square, the area near the Orange Line’s Stony Brooke Station in Jamaica Plain, and Harvard Avenue. The transportation department selected these areas after analyzing three years of crash and speeding data, Gupta said.

0 Dukakis: North-South Rail Link Would ‘Pay For Itself’

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Former Gov. Dukakis speaking in Boston

Credit: Wgbh

Transportation is a key driver to a city’s economic success.  Former Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis met with Gov. Charlie Baker to discuss a underground rail connection between North and South Station.

From Wgbh:

“It’s important to understand that both South and North station are getting increasingly congested,” [Former Governor Michael Dukakis] said. “We’re getting perilously close to a point where we’re not going to be able to get any more trains into those stations. Both of them, by the way. The answer from the [MBTA] over the course of the past few years, under administrations of both parties has been that we ought to expand South Station and add another seven tracks. We are paying consultants, even as we speak, to plan that for $1 billion or $600 million for seven tracks—that’s insane. Nobody in the railroad business is expanding 19th-century stations, they’re connecting them. There must be 50 major cities, all over the world, that have the same problem we do, and they’re connecting them. That’s exactly what we should do, not spend any more time on this foolishness about expanding South Station, it won’t solve the problem.”

To get from North Station to South Station, Amtrak and commuter rail passengers must travel through the city via other means— there is no commuter rail directly between the two stations. The North-South Rail Link, proposed by former Governors Dukakis and Bill Weld, would connect both stations, uniting both stations and bringing passengers North, as far as Maine.

0 Paired-Down Green Line Extension Gets Go-Ahead

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Greenline train in Boston

Credit: Wbur

The Green Line needs to grow.  The daytime and bedtime population is growing.  We are seeing new developments of office, retail and residential throughout our city.  The cost of residential units continues Northward and to ensure continued growth we need reliable public transportation into the city core.

A Wbur articles reports “the state transportation board and the MBTA’s fiscal control board voted Monday to tentatively move forward with a scaled-down proposal for the long-delayed Green Line extension (GLX), which would relocate Lechmere Station and bring six new T stations to Somerville and Medford…The new plan, which is estimated to cost $2.3 billion, will go to the Federal Transit Administration, which also must approve the modified proposal.”

You can read the full article on Wbur.org.

0 Tech Companies Heading to Downtown Boston

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downtown crossing offices

Credit: BBJ

Location, Location and Location.  The largest concentration of office space north of NYC is Boston’s Financial District and including in its size is easy access by commuter rail, T, Boat, bus and yes, car.

The tech audience seems most attracted to the proximity to the Red Line; with quick access to E. Cambridge and Kendall Square, and prices that are 10% – 20% less in comparable asset classes, the market’s appeal is strong.

According to the BBJ, “In the city’s post-recession economy, more than 2.1 million square feet of professional services, law firms and consultancies have vacated the traditional downtown neighborhood for a spiffier Innovation District address. But at the same time, some 1.8 million square feet of technology, advertising, media and information-based companies — also known as TAMI tenants — have flooded into downtown and the area around North Station.”

Additional information is available on the Boston Business Journal’s website, here.

Related Available Office Space
Boston financial District office space for lease

0 Seaplane from Boston Waterfront to NYC

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Seaplane planned for Boston harbor

Credit: The Boston Globe

The Boston waterfront will eventually be host to another form of transportation to NYC: Seaplane. Two companies, Tailwind and Cape Air, are lining up for the $1,000 round trip fares.

Some expect this service will arrive in Boston Harbor in 2017 and will depart from a pier in the Seaport.

From the Boston Globe:

After at least two years of preparations and behind-the-scenes discussions, the rival companies Tailwind and Cape Air will each test a nine-passenger Cessna Caravan in Boston Harbor this week as they seek Federal Aviation Administration approval to use the harbor as a take-off and landing zone. One factor the agency will be watching: whether the seaplanes can safely navigate the busy airspace next to Logan International Airport, along with a harbor often crowded with boats. If they receive the federal approvals they need, both companies could launch service within a year.

“You’re really going to be able to . . . get on an airplane at 8 a.m., be at a morning meeting in New York, and turn around and be back by lunchtime,” Wolf said. “We think demand is going to be strong.”

0 Diminishing Space for Parking in Boston

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Seaport parking lot near South Boston waterfront

Credit: New Boston Post

Self-driving cars are getting airtime on talk shows and in the news.  On a recent broadcast experts believe we will see integration of them by 2036, yes 20 years.  When they do arrive, I can only imagine that cars will be able to self-park in much tighter spaces and when we wish to leave we will simply “Uber” our own car and select a pickup location.  What happens between 2016 and 2036 is the challenge.  Perhaps Boston should look at London as an example and tax cars coming into the city during peak hours.

A recent article on New Boston Post notes, “when the Boston Redevelopment Authority closed the garage, ostensibly for engineering reviews, it took the best parking deal downtown away from long-suffering Hub commuters who paid just $20 a day for one of its 435 spaces. Only a few years earlier, it was even cheaper – and this in a neighborhood where the average daily rate was close to $40 even in 2013…Boston currently has spaces for 2,310 cars and the plan approved by the BRA in January will end up eliminating half of those spaces, cutting the number available to the public to fewer than 600.”

You can read more on the New Boston Post.

0 South End Gateway Plotted above Back Bay Station

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rendering of Back bay real estate development

Credit: Boston Business Journal

Back Bay Station is poised to be far more than just a commuting station.  Boston Properties is proposing a 1.26 million square foot mixed use project.

From the BBJ:

Boston Properties (NYSE: BXP) on Tuesday filed a project notification form with the Boston Redevelopment Authority that outlines its plans for three separate commercial and residential towers and a renovated and expanded Back Bay Station. The total project, if approved, would include 575,000 square feet of commercial office space, up to 100,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space, and 600 residential units.

Boston Properties has dubbed the latest development the “South End Gateway” project. The development will span four air-rights parcels — that is, development built on top of existing buildings — atop Back Bay Station, and an existing parking garage at 100 Clarendon St. The development is bounded by Dartmouth Street, Stuart Street, Trinity Place and Clarendon Street in Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood.