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Hilton Garden Inn Brookline Tops Off The 11-story Hilton Garden Inn Brookline/Boston topped off earlier this month. The hotel is set to feature 174 rooms, a restaurant and lounge area, conference space, fitness center, swimming pool, business center, and a 24-hour pavilion pantry. The 111,100 SF hotel will also house a ground-floor café with outdoor seating. Additionally, a 70-space parking garage will be located on the hotel’s second level, providing ease of access for guests.  The property sought to maximize space at the narrow .437-acre lot. A curved corner design draws attention to the building, which sits at the intersection of Brookline Avenue and Route 9. With the topping off now complete, Callahan will begin work on the building’s glass façade.  Located at 700 Brookline Ave, the property is the former site of a Gulf gas station that was demolished in 2016. The building is conveniently located adjacent to the Longwood Medical area and one block to the Riverway T Station. The Hilton Garden Inn select service hotel is set to open in fall 2020.

Foundation Medicine Leases 580,000 Square Feet at 400 Summer Street WS Development has announced that Foundation Medicine has leased 580,000 square feet of laboratory and office space at 400 Summer Street, part of the company’s 23-acre Boston Seaport development. “We are honored that Foundation Medicine has chosen 400 Summer Street for their headquarters. Boston’s Seaport has come to serve as the city’s hub for forward-thinking employers, residents, and retailers, and now as a global hub of the life sciences sector. No company better represents the power of innovation than Foundation Medicine and we are proud to welcome them to our neighborhood,” said Jeremy Sclar, President of WS Development. The upcoming 626,000 square foot, 16 story lab/office project at 400 Summer Street. will include a new set of stairs including public open space to connect Summer Street down to Congress Street.

Demo Permits Pulled to Make Way for Upcoming Kenmore Square North Demo permits have been pulled to remove existing buildings at the corner of Commonwealth Avenue and Deerfield Street (533, 535-539 and 541 Commonwealth Avenue) in the heart of Kenmore Square. Once clear, the Related Beal development plans call for a new eight-story, 165,000-square-foot office building with a ground-floor restaurant/retail space in this spot. The Kenmore Square North project will also include renovations of buildings along Deerfield and Beacon Street. When complete the project will offer a total of around 400,000 square feet of office and creative workspace with ground-floor retail.

Steel Framing Ongoing for Hilton Garden Inn Brookline Village Steel framing is rising for the upcoming 11-story 175-room Hilton Garden Inn hotel that is set to open in spring 2020. Hotel amenities will include a fitness center with pool, restaurant and a 70-space parking garage located on levels 2 & 3.

Construction Nearly Complete for The Moxy Hotel: Opening Next Month Signage is in place and the new two-story digital banner is also up at the corner of Stuart and Tremont Streets for The Moxy Hotel, set to open in August.  The 24-story hotel will feature 340 "micro" guest rooms, each approximately 175 square feet in size outfitted with the latest technology and modern furniture. The hotel also includes a rooftop bar and 2,000 square feet of meeting/event space.

WS Development Plans to Begin Construction on 400 Summer St. Later This Year At yesterday's NAIOP Seaport by Foot Tour event, Yanni Tsipis of WS Development discussed a few of his firm's upcoming projects in Seaport Square. With work underway for Amazon's future home at Seaport Square Block L4, WS expects to begin construction on Parcel P next, later this year. Parcel P, or 400 Summer Street, will include over 600,000 square feet of lab space and is aesthetically designed to connect Fort Point's industrial style with The Seaport. As part of the 400 Summer Street project, WS will be building a new connection between Summer and Congress Streets. These gorgeous new stairs will include public space and allow for a much more pleasant pedestrian connection than the current A Street Stair option.    

Steel Framing Kicks Off for 500 Unit Residential Building at Assembly Row Steel framing has kicked off for the next residential project at Assembly Row on Block 8 of Somerville's live, work, play destination, The Block 8 project is set to include 500 residential units along with around 26,000 square feet of restaurant and retail space. Multiple amenities will be located on-site for residents, including a 4th-floor courtyard with a pool & private patios and a rooftop outdoor terrace. 

Construction Continues on The Beat in Dorchester Construction continues on Nordblom's transformation of BEAT in Dorchester, set to include 360,000 square feet of office space and 300,000 square feet of flex/light industrial space. The project will also include a 10,000-square-foot fitness center and a 100-seat restaurant and a micro craft brewery with a food component, including an outdoor beer garden. A new multi-use path will also be created around the site, restoring the adjacent Patten’s Cove public park and integrating the site into the surrounding Dorchester community.

NPC Approved for Dot Block During Raucous BPDA Meeting Although the updated plans for the Dot Block were not up for public debate at the BPDA meeting on April 11th, a group of disgruntled citizens were on hand to speak in opposition of the project. Chairman Timothy Burke's gavel got quite a workout as he tried to silence the crowd who claimed the $200M, project set to clean up a long-blighted industrial area, will displace Dorchester residents. Despite the interruptions, the NPC was approved, even receiving positive feedback from a Board member who is a neighbor to the project. The newly approved plans call for an increase in residential units from 362 to 488, 66 of which will be IDP units. The increase in units allows for deeper levels of affordability than required and 33 of the IDP units are designated for Neighborhood Diversity Preference. Changes were also put in place to decrease the retail/restaurant square footage to 23,000. With smaller spaces the development team hopes to be able to welcome more local, small businesses to the project. The final major change to the plans was to the parking. The previous plan called for an above ground parking garage which has now been moved below grade allowing for significantly more green/open space, around 1.3 acres in total. A spokesperson for Samuels and Associates, who joined the project team in December of 2018, told BLDUP via email:  "After many months of review and feedback, we are pleased to have earned BPDA approval to move forward with revised plans for the Dot Block project.  The current proposal improves upon the project originally approved by the BPDA in 2016, adding more housing opportunities, connecting neighborhoods together and providing more open space." A construction start date is yet to be determined.  

The BEAT Secures $252.74 Million in Financing The BEAT in Dorchester has secured $252,747,880 in financing via Oaktree Capital. The project calls for the repositioning of the 16.6-acre former Boston Globe headquarters at 135 Morrissey Boulevard in Dorchester. The existing three-story office and an industrial building will be retained and retrofitted into a 695,000-square-foot modern hub for creative office, laboratory and retail uses dubbed The BEAT. The project would create spaces to stimulate growth in fields such as robotics, life sciences, and high-tech manufacturing.

Interior Finishing Ongoing for Micro Guest Rooms at Moxy Hotel The glass and metal curtain wall facade for the Moxy Boston is in place as crews work to wrap up interior finishing for the expected opening in June of this year. The 143,000 square foot project will feature 346 micro guest rooms along with a rooftop bar and lounge, fitness center and meeting rooms. While the rooms are designed with a small footprint they still feature high-end finishes and edgy graphics to convey a theatre theme to match the location amidst Boston's Theatre District.

Construction Ongoing for Hilton Garden Inn Brookline Village Construction is ongoing for the upcoming Hilton Garden Inn Brookline/Boston. The 11-story building will feature around 175 guest rooms along with a 70-space parking garage on levels 2 & 3. Hotel amenities will include an on-site restaurant, lounge area, meeting space, fitness center, and pool.  The .437-acre parcel is located on Route 9 at the corner of Brookline Village, just a few blocks from the Longwood Medical Area. Construction is expected to be complete in Spring 2020.