WSP

$5M Plumbing Permit Pulled for The St. Regis Residences, Boston A permit valued at $5M has been pulled for plumbing work at The St. Regis Residences, Boston by American Plumbing & Heating. The waterfront property will feature 114 luxury condo residences plus a two-level signature restaurant and harborwalk extension around the property. Construction is expected to last through early 2021. 

$4M Plumbing Permit Pulled for The Track at New Balance With work continuing on steel framing, a $4M permit for plumbing install has been pulled by Valante Mechanical for 67-91 Guest Street in Boston Landing, The Track at New Balance. The Track will feature an indoor track as well as regulation hard court and turf field space and a separate warm-up track along with seating capacity for up to 5,000 spectators. The project will also offer a 3,500 capacity music venue in partnership with The Bowery Presents. Construction is expected to be completed in late summer 2021.

$700M Building Permit Pulled for Winthrop Center Although the project officially broke ground in October 2018, the actual building permit for Winthrop Center has now been pulled. The permit pulled by Suffolk Construction is valued at $700M. The 53 story tower will feature over 770,000 square feet of Class A office space plus around 387 condos. At the base of the building a multi-floor public gathering space and thruway, the Connector, will offer a restaurant, retail, and community space. Construction is expected to wrap up in early 2022.

Checking In On Boston's First St. Regis While the project is yet to get out of the ground, reps for Cronin Development tell BLDUP that construction continues "on schedule" for The St. Regis Residences, Boston. The 22-story tower will offer 114 luxury condos ranging in size from one-bedroom homes to multi-bedroom penthouses. Residences will feature floor to ceiling windows, walk-out or Juliet balconies, along with gourmet kitchens. Amenities at the waterfront property will include valet service, a resident lounge, a heated stone-clad pool with a continuous waterfall edge, plus two guest suites for out-of-town visitors. The building is expected to open in early 2021. 

Construction Continues for Dual-Branded Seaport Hotel Construction continues for the upcoming dual-branded Hampton Inn & Homewood Suites coming to Boston's Seaport. The 14-story building will feature 411 rooms along with a 75 car parking garage and 3,500 square feet of retail space. Shared hotel amenities will include a fitness center, indoor pool, meeting space, and an on-site restaurant.   

Interior Finishing Underway for Parcel K in the Seaport Interior finishing is underway for both Ora Seaport & the Hyatt Place hotel as part of the Parcel K development in the Seaport. The Hyatt Place hotel will feature 294 rooms plus a rooftop gym, and 4,000 square feet of meeting and event space. Next door Ora Seaport, will feature 304 luxury apartments complete with a rooftop pool, landscaped courtyard, and gym and wellness center. A one-level underground parking garage at the project will have the capacity for approximately 450 cars. Construction is expected to wrap up this spring.

$33.75M Electrical Permit Pulled for Winthrop Center An electrical permit valued at $33.75M has been pulled for the upcoming Winthrop Center Tower. The 53 story tower will feature approximately 387 condo units plus over 770,000 square feet of office space. At the base of the building a multi-floor public gathering space and thruway, the Connector will offer restaurant, retail, and community space. 

Harvard Selects Tishman Speyer as Partner for Initial Phase of Enterprise Research Campus The Harvard Allston Land Company (HALC) has designated Tishman Speyer as the preferred developer for the initial phase of Harvard University’s Enterprise Research Campus (ERC) in Allston. Led by President and CEO Rob Speyer, Tishman Speyer is a global developer of large, complex, mixed-use projects and is best known for innovative approaches to architecture, placemaking, interior design, sustainability, healthy live-work environments, and leading-edge tenant amenities.  The architect selected to lead the project is Jeanne Gang, who graduated from the Harvard Graduate School of Design in 1993 with a master’s in architecture degree, and is founding principal of Studio Gang, an international architecture and urban design practice based in Chicago, New York, and San Francisco. Gang, a MacArthur Fellow who was named one of TIME Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in 2019, has received numerous accolades over the years and in 2017 was named as the Architectural Review Woman Architect of the Year. Tishman Speyer’s previous collaborations with Gang include residential projects in San Francisco and Brooklyn, as well as the Mission Rock project in San Francisco.  Gang has also done work on the University of Chicago’s campus and on O’Hare International Airport. The ERC is located on Western Avenue, adjacent to Harvard’s new Science and Engineering Complex (SEC), and across the street from Harvard Business School (HBS), and will be a cornerstone of Harvard’s commitment to enhance the area in ways that align with its teaching and research mission. It will be a center for innovation, collaboration and entrepreneurship, bringing together partners from across greater Boston and beyond. “Tishman Speyer will bring to Allston a wealth of experience shaped by extraordinary work around the world, and we look forward to the further development of the Enterprise Research Campus,” said Harvard President Larry Bacow. “The convergence of art, business, and engineering in a new urban district will create opportunities for creativity and innovation that will drive achievements in research that none of us can imagine.” Harvard envisions that the ERC will seamlessly integrate into the emerging corridor of creativity along Western Avenue, and that will contribute to a thriving neighborhood which is home to academia and education, engaging public and community spaces, and the arts and sciences in ways that drive economic growth and innovation.  Tishman Speyer was chosen because its proposal reflected a commitment to many of the goals set out by HALC in its initial request for proposals, namely: a strong focus on bold and innovative architecture; attention to creating a robust, sustainable public realm; an ability to include affordable housing that exceeds municipal requirements; a focus on creating a space for life-science and tech start-ups to flourish; a diverse and experienced development team;  and assurances that the firm is committed to ensuring project equity for minority investors. “The ideas and concepts put forth by the Tishman Speyer team were very much in line with the local Allston community's, the City's, and the University’s goals for the neighborhood, as well as advanced and forward-thinking.  Their focus on these shared goals and aspirations will result in an innovative ERC—that will complement the cutting-edge institutional research and teaching taking place at Harvard and throughout the region, and that can be integrated into the already-thriving community,” said Nitin Nohria, Chair of the Board of HALC and Dean of the Harvard Business School. “From the outset, Tom Glynn (CEO of HALC) and the Board members of the Harvard Allston Land Company have presented a clear, compelling and unique vision,” commented Tishman Speyer President and CEO Rob Speyer. “This project will combine the best in real estate with the best in science to help entrepreneurs and researchers make life-changing discoveries. And it will do this while supporting the neighborhood’s residents, further strengthening existing businesses and diversifying the region’s economy.  We are proud to be part of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to create a flagship for innovation at the center of a thriving, community-focused mixed-use development.”  Tishman Speyer sees opportunity in what it calls “a symbiosis between the ERC’s historic neighbors, the global innovation community and Harvard’s vision.”  The firm said its plan for the ERC is to create buildings and open spaces that are configured to simultaneously maximize user comfort and offer a diverse mix of program potential.  Its proposal says it will focus on creating social infrastructure that promotes “inclusivity, shared experiences, collaboration and human happiness…where cultural identity is expressed and authentically celebrated.” One potential building, dubbed the “Treehouse,” would serve as a welcoming front door to the ERC, and would reimagine the concept of a traditional hotel and conference center as a “hyper-social building for local, regional and global populations.”  "Capturing the spirit of innovation of the Enterprise Research Campus, our design will transform a former industrial site into a fertile new ground for the exchange of ideas and creative expression. We envision a neighborhood brought to life with low-carbon buildings and resilient green spaces that foster community and connect people to their natural environment," said Jeanne Gang, Studio Gang Founding Principal and Partner. Echoing Harvard’s strong commitment to sustainability and resiliency, Tishman Speyer says the ERC will be designed to be a leader in substantiality. Each ERC building will be designed to achieve a USGBC LEED Gold rating. Tishman Speyer’s proposal also calls for a dynamic and diverse residential community, with the ability to exceed the City’s affordable housing thresholds and include additional livability elements. Tishman Speyer says that “true and authentic equity and inclusion” will be the foundation of the team and the project itself. It has assembled a diverse team with broad global, national and local perspectives, and says it is “deeply committed to a work environment that promotes a diverse workforce, with different views and perspectives, and an expectation that leaders and employers alike demonstrate unflagging support for diversity and inclusion practices.” Tishman Speyer has committed to allocating five percent of the project equity to minority investors.  The entire ERC consists of 36 acres off of Western Avenue in Allston. The initial phase is for a 14-acre portion that has already received initial regulatory approval for 900,000 sf from the Boston Planning and Development Agency in March 2018, and includes plans for lab/office space, residential space, and a hotel and conference center, all of which will contribute to a vibrant and active neighborhood. “Over the next several months HALC and Tishman Speyer will be working with the local community, elected officials and City Hall to develop and refine a project proposal so that it can be shared and formally submitted for review,” said Thomas Glynn, CEO of HALC. “While a lot of necessary, expected work still remains to be done, we’re incredibly excited about this today’s announcement – an important next step in realizing Harvard’s vision for the ERC.” While the Tishman Speyer team has developed initial thinking and offered preliminary concepts and designs, there is no formal proposed project at the present time, nor any identified tenants.  Tishman Speyer has a large, diverse portfolio of projects locally, nationally and across the globe. It currently owns and operates more than 3 million square feet of space in Boston and has two projects in the city, including Pier4, a mixed-use project in the Seaport, and 105 West First Street, a life-science lab, also in the Seaport. Other projects include Rockefeller Center in New York City, Mission Rock in San Francisco, and the Sony Center in Berlin, Germany.    As planning advances in the ERC, Harvard and the Tishman Speyer team will work collaboratively to recruit idea-intensive businesses that have a natural synergy with the mission-driven scholarship that’s going on by Harvard’s faculty and students in Allston. This will further strengthen and expand partnerships across Greater Boston’s thriving ecosystem of innovation that includes Boston University, MIT, Harvard and other associated teaching hospitals, and innovative companies and investors throughout the region.

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.

$8M Tenant Fit-up Permit Pulled for Two Drydock A permit valued at $8M has been pulled for tenant fit-up on floors 7-10 at Two Drydock Avenue. The project will include new finishes along with mechanical and electrical. When complete in the first quarter of 2020, Two Drydock will feature 225,000 square feet of office space with 9,500 square feet of ground-floor retail.  Tenants at the project will include MullenLowe and Mediahub who have leased 114,620 square feet plus Shell TechWorks who committed to 43,821 square feet. Local brewery Lord Hobo will occupy the 9,000 square feet of retail/restaurant space on the ground floor.

Foundation Work Continues for Winthrop Center Foundation work continues at Winthrop Center, set to be the largest Passive House office building in the world. The 53-story tower is designed to surpass LEED Platinum status. Along with a leading-edge building envelope, the project team is working with Eversource to maximize energy efficiency. Eversource is advising on the optimization of the chiller and boiler plants and is also providing incentives to support the highly efficient envelope, lighting, and HVAC equipment. In addition to the customer incentives, Eversource will also provide design team incentives to support the advanced design practices associated with this project. Other best in class features of the Winthrop Center office component will include a Passive House ventilation system that will provide higher levels of fresh air, shown to enhance creativity and productivity. The tower will also be wired platinum, offering the best in digital infrastructure. Tenants of the 750,000 square feet of office space will also have access to The Collective, a 35,000 square foot club that features a fitness center, game room, coworking space, and coffee bar. Atop the office space, Winthrop Center will also feature around 500 luxury condo homes. Construction is expected to last through the first quarter of 2022.

Steel Framing Underway for The Track at New Balance Structural steel framing is underway for The Track At New Balance in Brighton. The TRACK  will offer a pinnacle sports experience for athletes, as well as a concert venue with The Bowery Presents and a New Balance Athletics Sports Research Lab. Ground floor retail and foodservice will also be part of the project. Construction is expected to be complete by late summer 2021.