MIT Kendall Square Initiative

Work Underway for Site 3 of MIT's Kendall Square Initiative

Work has started on the core for building 3 as MIT continues to change the face of Kendall Square. Building 3, located behind the Kendall Building at 238 Main Street will be a 12-story tower designed by Perkins+Will. The building will feature 27,000 square feet of ground floor retail along with 280,000 square feet of flexible lab and office space. on the upper floors. The redevelopment of the Kendall Building is a companion to the project as well. This early 1900’s building with its unique clock tower will become the main entrance to the complex with a 5 story atrium separating the existing and new buildings’ lower masses. 

 

Construction on One Broadway and 314 Main Street Progressing as Part of MIT's Kendall Square Initiative

Framing continues to rise for 314 Main Street as part of MIT's Kendall Square revamp with glass facade install now kicking off. The 17 story building will be home to Boeing and the MIT Museum. Construction is expected to run through 2020. Just down the block work is also continuing on the addition to One Broadway which will be home to new 19,000 square foot Roche Brothers Supermarket. This much-anticipated addition to the neighborhood is set to open this summer.

Framing Underway for 314 Main in Kendall Square

Steel framing is underway for the 17 story building at 314 Main Street a key piece of the MIT Kendall Square Initiative. 314 Main will feature 343,000 square feet of office space, 100,000 of which will be home to Boeing. The office space will feature column-free floors, terraces and Boston views.
The project will also include 6,000 square feet of retail and the new MIT Museum

Construction is expected to be complete in 2020.

Concrete Core Climbing at 314 Main Street in Kendall Square

The concrete core is climbing for site 5, 314 Main Street, as part of MIT's Kendall Square Initiative.  The upcoming 17 story building will be home to Boeing, who has leased 100K sf of space in the project along with the new 57K sf MIT Museum.  The building will also feature retail and restaurant space on the ground floor.  Construction is expected to be complete in 2020.

Framing Ongoing for Addition at One Broadway

Framing is ongoing for the addition to One Broadway as part of the MIT Kendall Square Initiative. One Broadway will be home to the 19,000 square foot Roche Brothers Marketplace.  The updated ground floor will also include a restaurant and an updated lobby.  Construction on One Broadway is set to be complete in Summer 2019.

Concrete Core Construction Underway at 314 Main Street

The first tower crane is now in place at 314 Main Street, lot 5 of MIT's Kendall Square revamp, with the second crane to be installed in just a few days time.  Work is also ongoing for the concrete core of the upcoming 17-story building that will be home to Boeing, the world's largest aerospace company, who has leased 100,000 square feet of the project. 314 Main Street will also house the new 57,000 square foot MIT Museum and feature retail and restaurant space on the ground floor.

Construction is expected to be complete in 2020.

 

Boeing will be Kendall Square Initiative’s First Major Tenant

Boeing, the world’s largest aerospace company, will soon become part of the MIT/Kendall Square innovation fabric. The company has agreed to lease approximately 100,000 square feet at MIT’s building to be developed at 314 Main St., in the heart of Kendall Square in Cambridge.

The agreement makes Boeing the first major tenant to commit to MIT’s Kendall Square Initiative, which includes six sites slated for housing, retail, research and development, office, academic, and open space uses. The building at 314 Main St. (“Site 5” on the map above) is located between the MBTA Red Line station and the Kendall Hotel. Boeing is expected to occupy its new space by the end of 2020.

“Our focus on advancing the Kendall Square innovation ecosystem includes a deep and historic understanding of what we call the ‘power of proximity’ to address pressing global challenges,” MIT Executive Vice President and Treasurer Israel Ruiz says. “MIT’s president, L. Rafael Reif, has made clear his objective of reducing the time it takes to move ideas from the classroom and lab out to the market. The power of proximity is a dynamic that propels this concept forward: Just as pharmaceutical, biotech, and tech sector scientists in Kendall Square work closely with their nearby MIT colleagues, Boeing and MIT researchers will be able to strengthen their collaborative ties to further chart the course of the aerospace industry.”

Construction Continues at One Broadway as Part of MIT Kendall Initiative

Construction is ongoing at One Broadway in Kendall Square to make way for the new 19,000 square-foot Brothers Marketplace. Roche Bros. Supermarkets signed a lease on the space late last year, bringing a much-needed grocery store to Kendall Square.  

The updated ground floor at One Broadway will also include a restaurant, new space for Dunkin Donuts, and an updated lobby.  Work on this part of the project is set to be complete in summer 2019. These improvements are part of a larger MIT Kendall Initiative which includes 6 new buildings for this Cambridge neighborhood.

A New Era in Kendall Square

via MIT News

As construction continues, the MIT Kendall Square Initiative project is expected to offer significant benefits for Cambridge, for MIT, and for the region. 

It will bring new housing units to one of the most sought-after parts of the city, as well as major new research and development facilities to what is already, as The Boston Globe recently described the Kendall area, “the beating heart of biotech. And if Kendall is the beating heart, then MIT must be the aorta. …” 

The new facilities will provide even greater opportunities for interaction and cross-fertilization between the biotech and other high-tech companies that have flocked to the area, and the students and faculty of MIT, whose presence helped draw those companies in the first place. 

The intermingling of these academic and commercial communities should further enhance the already abundant opportunity for partnerships, internships, collaborations, and serendipitous meetings.

The large development project remains on schedule using Touchplan, a construction software that allows developers to plan, implement, and monitor projects in their entirety. The innovative software gives developers the ability to see the full spectrum of their project down to every last detail. Touchplan has let developers keep their projects on or ahead of time leading to lower costs and more efficient construction.

Roche Brothers supermarket coming to $1.2 billion MIT Kendall Square Initiative development

Leading local grocer Roche Brothers will open a 19,000-square-foot Brothers Marketplace grocery store at One Broadway in Kendall Square, part of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)'s multi-phased $1.2 billion Kendall Square Initiative mixed-use development. The grocery store is expected to open in summer 2019 and will share One Broadway's repositioned ground floor with a restaurant and a new home for Dunkin Donuts. One Broadway's repositioning is part of the 1.8-million-square-foot MIT Kendall Square Initiative development, which will construct six new buildings in Kendall Square including approximately 888,000 square feet of office space, 115,000 square feet of retail, 450 graduate student housing units, 290 housing units and over 1.8 acres of open space.

A grocery store has reportedly been the most requested retail use for the development by neighborhood residents, local employees, and students. “The community’s desire for a grocery store was raised in every conversation that we had with stakeholders during our zoning process,” says Steve Marsh, Managing Director of MIT’s Real Estate Group, in a prepared statement. “It is so important to those who live and work in Kendall that we worked to incorporate it in the earliest possible phase of our development. Going forward, we believe that the market will also serve as an anchor for other retail that contributes to a vibrant neighborhood and greater sense of place in the square.”

Transformative MIT development aims to create an active, walkable Kendall Square

By Matthew M. Robare

View of the development along the Cambridge skyline

Featuring six new buildings totaling nearly 1.7 million square feet and pegged at $1.2 billion, MIT’s Kendall Square Initiative development is transforming Kendall Square with a pedestrian streetscape, state-of-the-art office space and an increased residential presence. Formerly dormant blocks and surface parking lots will be revitalized with new retail and public spaces topped off with offices and residences that will activate the area 24/7. The development’s SoMa (South of Main Street) phase began construction last fall, and the NoMa (North of Main Street) phase is moving through design review.

A map showing the Kendall Square Initiative buildings within the neighborhood

Updated plans for the NoMa phase were recently revealed. NoMa will construct Building One, a 290 to 300-unit apartment building, as well as 33,915 square feet of new retail and 15,995 square feet of new office space strategically positioned along Broadway and Broad Canal Way. As part of NoMa, the existing One Broadway office building will be improved with additional office and retail space as well as facade renovations and a new office tenant outdoor terrace. Building One will be located adjacent to the existing One Broadway building, replacing an existing surface parking lot, and will provide additional retail frontage along both streets. Building One will be 24 stories tall and will contain approximately 384,050 square feet. At least 53 apartments at Building One will be affordable under Cambridge’s inclusionary zoning ordinance. 

Building One from Main Street, looking west

Building One will replace the existing 144-space surface parking lot with 150 garage parking spaces and over 350 bicycle storage spaces. The development team hopes to activate the Broadway frontage with a grocery store; the new retail along Broad Canal Way will complement the existing ground-floor retail along that street located in the Watermark Kendall development.

A view of Broad Canal Way activated through ground floor retail on both sides, with NoMa at right and Watermark Kendall at left

The SoMa phase, Buildings Two through Six, will build five new buildings while preserving three historic buildings on Main Street. Building Two will feature 300,000 square feet of office space and 18,000 square feet of retail at the corner of Main Street and Wadsworth Street. Building Two will replace MIT’s existing Eastgate graduate student housing building.

View of Building Two along Main Street

Building Three will contain approximately 280,000 square feet of research and laboratory space and will be built on the existing Hayward Street surface parking lot. Approximately 27,000 square feet of retail will be located at Building Three’s base.

View of Building Three along Wadsworth Street

Building Four will feature academic housing, with as many as 450 units for graduate students, as well as a 9,000 square foot childcare center and 28,000 square feet of retail.

View of Building Four from Main Street

Building Five will feature 360,000 square feet of office space, 20,000 square feet of retail and a new 65,000 square foot home for the MIT Museum. Building Five will replace the existing Kendall Square Lot and a one-story commercial building. Lastly, Building Six will be a two-story commercial building with 6,600 square feet of retail space.

View of Building Five from Courtyard

About 1,400 parking spaces will be built as part of SoMa, and two new Hubway stations are planned for the full development. A new head house for the Kendall Square MBTA Red Line station may be built. Other pedestrian-oriented improvements are in the works, such as raised crosswalks on Wadsworth Street, multiple new green spaces and the closure of Hayward Street to through traffic, creating a new retail and public space-lined pedestrian mall. The development of retail along the south side of Main Street and side streets will contribute to pedestrian use and make the MIT campus more connected to Kendall Square’s multiple public transit options.

Aerial view of MIT Kendall Square Initiative

MIT starts work on Kendall Square Initiative mixed-use development

Demolition is underway at the “SoMa” (South of Main Street) section of MIT’s six-building Kendall Square Initiative development in the heart of Kendall Square. Existing low-rise buildings are being cleared, and site work has begun to make way for MIT’s mixed-use expansion, which will include educational, office, residential and retail uses. In total, the Kendall Square Initiative will construct nearly 1.7 million square feet of new building space. The following are photographs of work underway on the MIT Kendall Square Initiative: