0 MIT Plans to Further Transform Kendall Square, Main Street

Office building in Cambridge on 1 main st

! Main Street, Cambridge

Changes in real estate keep coming, now MIT is elaborating on its plans for 1 Main Street in Kendall.

According to the Boston Globe, “University officials this week presented additional details of their plan for a reimagined Main Street, with new towers, wider sidewalks, welcoming open spaces, and clear signals to visitors that they have landed at MIT and in Kendall Square. The presentation before the city’s Planning Board on Tuesday night provided an overview of the $1.2 billion redevelopment project, which calls for converting six parking lots into offices, research space, hundreds of units of housing, and more than 100,000 square feet of retail. The six new buildings near Main would rise up to 300 feet tall.” The Globe article further explains, “City planners were largely supportive of MIT’s plan, though in a memo they expressed concern about “the scale and bulk” of some of the proposed buildings, warning that they might overwhelm pedestrians. Several members of the Planning Board agreed that the buildings appeared too imposing; some also called for more middle-class housing. But the board did certify that the plan met zoning and design guidelines.”

You can read the full article on the Boston Globe.

Available Office Listings and Area Details
Kendall Square Office Space

0 Kendall Square and Cambridge Office Space: Cost Continues to Climb

cambridge ma over the river

Credit: BBJ/bizjournals

The price of office space in the Boston Market continue to ratchet up and squeeze out those who signed their lease in the recent downturn. Rents in Kendall Sq. have continued to climb due to limited supply  and large national tech firms wanting to be there. Small firms are finding opportunities a couple of stops away on the Red Line’s Downtown Crossing stop,  where the Class B market is pricing in the low to mid $30’s PSF.

A report in the Boston Business Journal offers some quantification for the pace of office space transactions  in Cambridge and Kendall Square, noting “data from Cassidy Turley reveals that 323,135 square feet of space was absorbed in Cambridge’s already tight office market between Jan. 1 and June 30, while average rents in the life sciences and technology hub increased by 14 percent on a year-over-year basis…according to the report, office availability in Cambridge fell to 10.5 percent in the second quarter while average rents rose to $50.33 per square foot, up from about $44 a year earlier. The city’s office market is comprised of approximately 10 million square feet of leasable space.”

You can read the full article on the BBJ’s website, Bizjournals.

0 Boston Real Estate: High Demand for Office and Lab Space

210 Broadway st in Cambridge

Two Cambridge Place

Boston continues to shine nationally due to our healthcare, education, finance, biotech and high-tech industries.  Blackstone, owners of Equity Office are shopping their remaining Class A office portfolio to perhaps one buyer, which will push office rent even higher as the new ownership justifies their investment.

Here are some relevant projections for the Boston office market, from nerej.com:

A few key neighborhoods and areas will see particularly high levels of growth this year. Although major areas like the Back Bay and the Financial District continue to provide the largest amount of market space, growth and many new lease transactions will be seen in other areas, which provide more opportunities for company relocation and for out-of-town businesses to take root…Kendall Sq. in Cambridge is currently red hot, both for offices and for lab space in medicine, high-tech, and more. In particular, Google is coming in to Kendall Sq. and will take up 300,000 s/f of office space. Google will leave its own large footprint, while making the area even more attractive for other tech companies.