0 Belkin Pushes for Winthrop Square Tower

Posted on May 18, 2015 by Wil Catlin

Credit: Boston Globe

Belkin is one of eight developers chasing the development opportunity at the Winthrop Square parking garage site. His plan is after a 24/7 model that incorporates a live, work play them that embraces the “Café Culture” of today.

From the Boston Globe:

At the centerpiece of Belkin’s 740-foot office and residential tower is an innovation center, one designed for entrepreneurs and those who aspire to be one. The description itself may be eye-glazing or eye-rolling at a time when everyone claims to be innovative, but to hear Belkin explain it, you feel like he’s onto something big. It’s an idea that could go a long way to break down the walls that divide our business community, ones that keep Kendall Square and Innovation District types from mingling with those in the Financial District.

0 Boston Greenway will Influence Nearby Office Design

Posted on April 20, 2015 by Wil Catlin

Boston’s Greenway transcends the city’s current incarnation, and will continue to benefit from times gone by. Surrounding buildings will need to create access points to invite visitors to directly access the park and highlight the lush Greenway landscape.

Credit: Bostinno.Streetwise

Bostinno.Streetwise articulates how the city’s architecture can grow to accentuate the Greenway in the coming years:

This beautiful Greenway carved through the heart of downtown Boston, building owners, architects and developers should really be thinking about repositioning the front of their buildings toward the “center.” If you walk down the 1.5-acre strip, you will notice that many of the buildings’ entrances are facing opposite the park toward the dark “maze of streets,” limiting options for retail, hospitality and ultimately commerce along this central corridor.

If we turned these buildings around, similar to what happened in P.O. Square and the projects we completed there, the 1 P.O. Square and 225 Franklin Street lobbies, the Greenway could serve as a grassy green extension of our workplace’s front porch.

You can read the full editorial on Bostinno.Streetwise.co.

0 Boston Emerges as State’s Tech Startup Hub

Posted on April 10, 2014 by Wil Catlin

Has Boston really become the state’s capital for startups? Well yes. This came to be for two primary reasons; public access and cost of real estate. Downtown Crossing, DTX, is serviced by the T’s Red, Green Orange and Blue lines. Combined with the Silver Line and a short walk from South Station it offers employers a great recruiting tool as they vie for new talent.

Economics. Plain and simple. DTX is the last real value play within the Class B market and is what most startups are seeking. Opportunities can still be achieved with in the upper $20’s PSF while most buildings are pricing in the low to mid $30’S PSF.

Click to view or download as a high resolution pdf

The Boston Globe’s niche online business publication, betaboston.com, notes the following:

Last year…Boston accomplished a previously unheard of feat in the tech world by having more venture capital deals than Cambridge — for years the center of gravity of the startup scene in Massachusetts. And a large number of those deals went to companies located outside the Innovation District, in neighboring business zones such as the Financial and Leather districts and Downtown Crossing.

0 Price of Office Space in Boston’s Innovation District Still Climbing

Posted on January 16, 2014 by Wil Catlin

How expensive is the Innovation Districtt? Well, Boston’s Innovation District has pulled neck-and-neck with Back Bay. The Innovation District has benefited from a tremendous influx of tenants that could no longer afford East Cambridge and Kendall Square. Now with prices at or above pre-crash levels, the value play is within the low-rise Class A and Class B office space in the Financial District.

Office space in Boston's Innovation district and Back Bay

Credit: Boston Globe

A managing director at Cassidy Turley, David Campbell, recently commented to the Boston Globe, “the Innovation District has offered the most obvious place for the city to grow…the Big Dig and the convention center and the Ted Williams Tunnel have really made it fertile ground for future development.”

More from Campbell is available in the full article, on the Boston Globe’s website.

0 Boston Office Market Shifts to the Financial District

Posted on January 8, 2014 by Wil Catlin

The Downtown Boston Office Market continues to be strong as firms seek better value options than the high-priced Seaport or Back Bay submarkets. Pricing in the Class B market is still in the low-to-mid $30’s PSF downtown, while the Seaport has pushed into the low to mid $40’s.

B&T recently reported that “the popularity of the Seaport and Back Bay, where office building vacancy rates have been at historical lows in recent months, has been a boon to the city’s traditionally staid, button-down financial center, where younger and tech-related firms have opened up shop.”

Additional information is available on the Banker & Tradesman website.