RWDI Consulting Engineers and Scientists

Demo Progressing at 201 Brookline Ave Demo is progressing at 201 Brookline Avenue in Fenway to make way for a new 14-story office/lab building. The upcoming 500,000 square foot project already has 2 tenants lined up, cancer drug maker Tango Therapeutics and investment firm Third Rock Ventures. Construction is expected to last through 2022.

$1.7M Plumbing Permit Pulled for 201 Brookline Ave Cannistraro has pulled a permit valued at $1,723,350.00 for the install of plumbing piping and fittings at 201 Park Drive.  The upcoming 14-story building will feature 506,000 square feet of office and laboratory space along with above ground-floor retail. Construction is expected to last through 2022.

Tango Therapeutics & Third Rock Ventures Lease Space at Upcoming 201 Brookline Ave With a $160M building permit pulled earlier this month, Samuels & Associates announced that cancer drug maker Tango Therapeutics and investment firm Third Rock Ventures will lease space in 201 Brookline Ave. The upcoming 14-story building will feature 506,000 square feet of office and laboratory space along with above ground-floor retail. Construction is expected to last through 2022.  

$160M Permit Pulled for New Construction Phase of 401 Park Suffolk Construction has pulled a permit valued at over $160M to begin work on the 14-story new construction building at 401 Park. An existing non-historic building and parts of the garage will be demolished. The 506,000 square foot building will feature office and laboratory space above ground-floor retail. This phase of the project will also create a new public plaza at the southwest corner of Brookline Avenue and Fullerton Street. 

CO Issued for GE Office in Fort Point A certificate of occupancy has been issued for the base building core and shell plus the office space on floors 1 through 6 at 5 Necco Court in Fort Point. The historic brick and beam buildings have been fully renovated and will now be home to around 250 GE employees.   

Demo Underway for The Exchange South End Demo has kicked off of the building that formerly housed the historic Boston Flower Exchange to make way for Exchange South End, the upcoming 1.6 million square foot project that, once complete, will be a next-generation life science and technology urban campus. When asked about the timeline for construction of the first phase of the project, The Abbey Group tells BLDUP, "We are actively marketing the project, we are preparing the site and taking steps to be able to go forward with construction. We don't yet have a specific timetable to share." While the Boston Flower Exchange represented a physical exchange of goods for much of the 20th century, Exchange South End will represent an exchange of ideas, technology, and culture for the 21st. Located in the South End, one of Boston’s most culturally rich and diverse neighborhoods and home to hundreds of nearby restaurants, bars, retail shops, art galleries, and studios, the site will feature four new state-of-the-art laboratory and office buildings, significantly improving the area’s life science and technology infrastructure. Additionally, the campus will feature 22,000 square feet of retail space and 30,000 square feet of community space.It is anticipated that the site’s original wharf granite slabs will be excavated and incorporated into Albany Green, a one-acre publicly accessible open space at the heart of the campus, as benches, walls, and other park features.

The large building complex is undergoing demolition and construction to create 550 new apartment residences; 1,500 new parking spaces, and new office and retail spaces. The parking garage on the south side of the complex is fenced off and is in the early stages of demolition.

NPC Filed for Innovation Point With construction wrapping up on the renovations to the historic buildings at 5 Necco Court, Alexandria Real Estate Equities & National Development have filed a Notice of Project Change for the new construction building slated to be included in the Innovation Point Project. The updated plans call still call for a 12-story building however total square footage has increased to approximately 316,000 designed for multi-tenant office/life sciences/r&d uses. The building would also include active ground floor uses, such as retail and restaurant spaces. Because of the Project Site's proximity to public transit and nearby public parking facilities, the new building is not proposed to include any underground parking. Per the filing, the development team plans to begin construction on 15 Necco St. in the third quarter of 2020.

Permit Issued to Abandon Gas Service to Exchange South End Site in Prep for Demo A permit has been pulled to abandon the gas service to 540 Albany Street in prep for demo. The demo will make way for the much-anticipated Exchange South End project which was approved by the BDPA over a year ago in August 2018. The four-building 1.6 million square foot project will offer a mix of office, lab, and retail space plus a new 1-acre public park. The first buildings in this new life science and technology campus are expected to be ready in Q1 2022.

Akamai Moves into New Headquarters at 145 Broadway in Kendall Square On November 1, Akamai Technologies held a ribbon-cutting celebration marking the grand opening of their new global headquarters at 145 Broadway in Kendall Square. The new headquarters consolidates six of the internet technology company’s local offices, allowing 2,000 employees in the area to work together under one roof.  The new lobby and office space designed by Sasaki is housed within a base building by architect Pickard Chilton and architect of record Stantec. Responding to Akamai’s most pressing need to unite teams across a new 480,000 square foot office, Sasaki’s design prioritizes connection within the company, articulated best by the project’s vision statement: “To connect the world, we must first connect to each other.” The colorful "Akamile" is a mile-long walking path created by Sasaki, the interior architect behind the office design. The connective pathway links all 19 floors of the new Akamai office, creating a band of social and collaborative space that connects teams across the 480,000 SF. The gradient runs between Akamai's brand colors of blue and orange, doubling as a fully integrated branding and wayfinding feature that sets this office apart as a beacon within Kendall Square. Inspiring productive collaboration across the building’s 19-floor interior posed a challenge, but the Sasaki design team saw opportunity for innovative design. Diverse destinations—including specialty coffee bar, ping pong arena, and an inviting gaming lair, among others—encourage movement across the entire building, and a walkable physical path between the top and bottom floors of the building guides employees through common spaces on each floor. The path, which spans approximately one mile, is cleverly dubbed the “Akamile.”   Diverse destinations along a single walking path get people to move between all 19 floors, ensuring the Akamai workforce is staying connected to one another and given the mix of social, focused, and collaborative spaces they need to do their best work.   Photos: Sasaki, Interior Architect. ©Anton Grassl

Take a Sneak Peek Inside the Trillium's New Fenway Location Trillium's first ground-up construction project -- the 1,500 square foot structure is designed by Studio Troika with a greenhouse-inspired feel. Sip beers on the open-air patio in the summer and watch the snow shimmer through glass windows in the winter. Trillium was born in Boston, and its newest space in the city will allow the roots to grow deeper. Photos Courtesy of Trillium Brewing Company

Construction Nearly Complete for GE’s Renovation at Necco Court Months after scrapping plans for a larger tower on the site, GE is wrapping up construction on renovations to the historic buildings on Necco Court. After deciding not to move forward with the new construction aspect of the project GE sold the site to Alexandria Real Estate and signed a 12-year lease for the warehouse buildings. The 100+-year-old brick and beam warehouses are currently being fully renovated and will include a bistro and modern office space for around 250 GE employees. As part of the project the Necco Court bridge is being restored with half of the bridge’s facade being replaced with new metal, while the side facing the Fort Point Channel will be replaced with glass. Gensler is the architect on the project and Eversource provided energy efficiency solutions. Eversource is supporting a number of energy-efficient building elements in this project with incentive dollars, including energy-efficient lighting and lighting controls, high performing chillers, pumps, windows, walls and roof materials with high insulating values. Construction is expected to wrap up in the coming months.