New Digs

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

The big buildings get all the attention when they go up, but substantial improvements happen in increments, on single floors, and draw little notice. Bergmeyer Associates, Inc., showed off its new green quarters in South Boston recently, and Leggat McCall Properties is looking pretty sustainable too. As the year ends, opportunity at Fort Devens, Harvard opens the "Ed Portal" in Allston, the Harbor Islands Pavilion, and more ...

This will be our last Journal till the New Year. Thank you to everyone for reading, thanks to those who responded electronically or in person, and we look forward to continuing, with optimism, in 2009. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Amid those gloomy stories of projects stalled, development money frozen, and futures uncertain, there were celebrations as 2008 ended.

One happy one happened at 51 Sleeper St. where the architectural firm Bergmeyer, formerly a resident of Russia Wharf, celebrated its "sustainable workspace."

Bergmeyer was also celebrating its 35th anniversary (not 20th, as we originally wrote!) as a company, and 75 employees, about half architects and half other staff, welcomed guests in the large rectangular floor, cubicles and work spaces surrounding offices and meeting rooms in the core of a 1929 warehouse building on the South Boston Waterfront.

"Collaboration" was the key to the design, according to Ira Baline, a senior associate, and others. "We recognize that sustainable design can only be achieved through collaboration," says a brochure. "... early in the process, we decided to utilize our entire modest fit-out budget to implement green strategies, including the portion that had been allocated for the paperwork associated with the LEED certification process."

Balin showed us one of the collaborative rooms, where design ideas take shape -- papered with rough drawings and sketches, and lists of "objectives" for a current project.

The diverse jobs Bergmeyer is known for include developing prototypes and stores for L.L. Bean; the U.S. corporate office for Mars Snack Food; the Shops at Quonset Point in North Kingstown, R.I.; Toto Showroom in Boston; the Brown University Bookstore; and the restaurant and cafe at the Cleveland Museum of Art.

Green aspects of the space include proximity to public transit, low-energy lighting, recycled-fiber carpeting, sealer but no paint on the concrete ceiling and other surfaces, light-colored materials to reflect light, fast-growing bamboo used in partitions, reuse of furniture from previous space, natural-fiber fabrics, moveable walls, water-saving fixtures in restrooms, and energy-efficient computer servers and monitors.

Copying machines are confined to rooms with increased ventilation, to keep the air cleaner.

Bergmeyer execs said the company lobbied for buildingwide recycling, saving two tons a month of stuff from landing in landfills.

We're not sure how green they were, but the hors d'oeuvres were terrific.

It was a great party, and apparently a little work got done as well.

As one of those sliding doors on the offices in the center glided shut, and a couple of people were sitting down inside, we heard, "I'll draw up a contract for you right now."

*******

A couple of weeks later the real estate firm Leggat Mccall Properties had a similar party, at its new space on the 13th floor of 10 Post Office Square.

Leggat McCall is known for projects including the creative reuse and expansion of One First Street in Cambridge, and for project management on the Battery Wharf hotel and condos and the Boston Children's Museum.

President Eric Sheffels, executive vice president Mahmood Malihi, executive vice president for development Eric Bacon and others showed us around the brand new 12,000 square feet, for which they're seeking a LEED certification of Gold for commercial interior spaces. (There's a sense of egalitarianism at this firm. How many web sites list the president at the bottom, not the top?)

The new space -- Leggat McCall moved up from the third floor -- was designed by Audrey O'Hagan of Newton.

Sheffels had said something to the staff about efficiency and speed being important parts of sustainability, and he wanted this work accomplished in a month.

They laughed, as we heard the story. So he said, OK, three weeks. And that's what they did it in. Fifteen working days.

Commodore Builders did the work, which involved using regionally available materials -- and of course materials that could be delivered right away.

The renovation of the space cost about $1.1 million.

Shelves are of recycled particle board, fabricated in New Hampshire, and low-VOC materials were used throughout.

O'Hagan told us the company was interested in using old and new technologies both, as long as they were sustainable ones.

The floors are raised 12 inches, not only for power and data conduits but also for air distribution. That's fairly common in Europe but not yet here, she said.

A new technology was wireless and batteryless radio-frequency switching for control of lighting. Lights go on and off when people enter and leave rooms -- and they also dim in spaces near windows if it's bright outside. For "daylight harvesting."

Sheffels "talked about dumb walls and smart floors," O'Hagan said. So walls, mostly semipermanent and without wiring, can be moved easily.

The space is light and airy. Probably great for productivity. It's amazing the new ideas that can come to old spaces.



Harvard's Ed Portal







It opened in July, but the formal event celebrating the new Education Portal, established by Harvard University at 175 North Harvard St. in Allston, was late in November.

The 3,400-square-foot center is for hands-on instruction in science for ages 6-18, and for adult education.

"It's a wonderful way for young people of this neighborhood to have the training they need," said Mayor Tom Menino. "I want to thank all the mentors. I have about 55,000 more kids" to send over.

Menino acknowledged that Harvard officials have had "1,000 meetings already" on developing their campus in Allston. "You've got about 4,000 more to go. It's all about how you help us realize a dream."

The Ed Portal is part of what the city puts at $24 million in community benefits that Harvard will provide in connection with early construction of the new campus.

Diane Ghogomu, a Harvard senior, teaches writing at the portal. "I work here because I hope students can find a way to connect with their writing," she said.

"Samantha McGilvray, an 11th-grader, said, "Diane's really pushed me to write and rewrite."

Cathy Campbell-Daly, a parent whose Alex and Carley have been learning at the portal since summer, said Carley saw "Finding Nemo" and then met a marine biologist there. "She wants to work with dolphins," Campbell-Daly said.

Some of the kids hopped up on the stage with the mayor and told a little about what they've been doing.

Angus Cusack, a sixth-grader at the Jackson Mann School, said he works on math homework with his mentor, Jimmy. "The Ed Portal is quiet and a great place to work."

His sister, Maeve Cusack, in third grade, said, "I work on science projects and have fun with Hannah. The end."

Hannah Chung is studying chemestry and physical biology and math, and she's a mentor.

Drew Faust, the president of Harvard, was introduced for the occasion as "educator in chief." She called Menino "the education mayor."

Ado Jean-Noel, a fourth-grader, said he builds and uses Google Earth. Angelique Jean-Noel, in second grade, goes to science club on Thursdays and makes rockets.

Chris Gordon, Harvard's guy for Allston development, was proud of the Ed Portal.

His bigger piece of the new campus is the Science Building, now a five-acre hole that is 50 feet deep.

Steel would start going in by the first of the year, he said, and the building out of the ground by spring, with an opening planned for the third quarter of 2011.

Prof. Rob Lue, director of the Ed Portal, said the bright new facility, brimming with enerty, was the result of Harvard asking: "What is the best way to get students excited to learn?" Looking around at the roomful of busy children, and listening to their stories, he said, "These are the things that make our hearts beat faster."





AAREP New England





AAREP New England is relatively new. It's the regional organization for Commercial Real Estate Professionals of Color.

The group organized a panel this month, "Can the Economic Crisis Make Boston a More Livable City?" It was cosponsored by NAIOP Massachusetts, Colony Realty Partners and the law firm Brown Rudnick, which played host.

Tulaine Shabazz Marshall of United Way, Judy Jacobson of Mass Housing Partnership, and Brenda McKenzie, a recent addition to the Boston Redevelopment Authority, having come from President-elect Obama's old home town, gave their views.

We didn't come away expecting a more livable city, exactly, but then that's a tall order for a crisis.

We did learn a lot about opportunities for professionals who want to contribute, and the large group that attended seemed to get that message too.



Up or Down?

We've been following the real estate market in Boston for several years now. And usually when the quarterly reports from the real estate firms come out they pretty much agree on things.

Information in the real estate industry is first-rate.

In a lot of areas in life, like politics, you've got to take a small sample an extrapolate. You may be right or wrong.

But in real estate, these professionals know just about every square foot of space that's available (about 58 million in downtown Boston, about 200,000 in Greater Boston), and which is leased, not leased, or subleased. And for how long. Just how much absorption there has been, and so forth.

We noted, however, that for 2008 when the third-quarter reports were released for the Greater Boston office market, Richards Barry Joyce & Partners had the vacancy rate dropping by a tiny amount, .5 percent. RBJ put the vacancy rate at 13.1 percent for the third quarter.

Colliers Meredith & Grew, on the other hand, had the vacancy rate increasing, for the first time since June 2003. Meredith & Grew put the vacancy rate at 14.8 percent, saying it had increased from 14.3 percent.

Everybody figures it slightly differently, but the hair's breadth variations get noticed when they hover around zero -- and one is positive, one negative.

Of course, all these figures will be irrelevant soon, when the fourth-quarter numbers come out. Nobody thinks they'll look very good compared to recent years -- though everybody is thankful Boston is better off than a lot of other cities.





Large Tenant

It's kind of old news, but it was such a big piece of space we wanted to note it.

Cengage Learning has leased about 100,000 square feet of space at Channel Center, the mixed-use development along A Street in the Fort Point Channel area of South Boston.

Channel Center has 200,000-square-feet-plus of residential space, almost 250,000 of mixed-use office and retail in existing buildings, and permits for 620,000 square feet of new office space.

Cengage provides print and digital instructional and reference materials for schools. The company will take the top three floors of 10-20 Channel Center.

CB Richard Ellis is the leasing agent.





Out West

It's not downtown, but MassDevelopment is looking for proposals to buy and develop and manage Vicksburg Square, in the Devens Regional Enterprise Zone, formerly Fort Devens, now just called Devens.

It's 435,000 square feet in seven buildings on 20 acres, once used as US Army headquarters for north central Massachusetts.

Devens today has 90 businesses on the base, which was closed in 1996. And about 100 residences too.

Bristol Myers-Squibb's $750 million biologics manufacturing plant is under way there.

Vicksburg Square is a four-building quadrangle complex, listed on the National Register of Historic Places and currently zoned for innovation and technology center uses. Three other buildings, also on the register, are included in the offering.

The complex is mostly in Ayer, with a sliver in Harvard, Mass.

MassDevelopment's document says other uses will be considered, including a mix of uses and residential.

Green development proposals, of course, will go to the head of the class.

* Revere Hall is a 1929 infantry barracks that housed 250 soldiers. At 111,141 square feet, it was MassDevelopment's Devens headquarters till 2006. It has a 23-bay front and "restrained Georgian Revival detailing."

* Knox Hall is 71,781 square feet and the oldest of the four on the quadrangle. It was a hospital and later a military courtroom.

* Allen Hall was a regimental infantry barracks for 400 soldiers and is 113,075 square feet.

* Hale Hall was the last of the four in the main cluster to be built, completed in 1940, also as a barracks. It is 112,825 square feet, designed for 500 soldiers.

The other buildings are a former firehouse from 1930, 7,863 square feet; Bataan Corregidor Memorial Hall, a 6,766-square-foot theater constructed in 1932; and a 1918 Main Post Exchange building currently in use by the Massachusetts State Police.

As with the name Vicksburg Square, there's a lot of non-New England history suggested here: Sherman Avenue, Antietam Street, Jackson Road. But then there's Buena Vista Street too.

Proposals are due Feb. 24, 2009.





Another Utile Win

Utile, a Boston architecture and urban design firm, was recently chosen, along with partner Ken Greenberg of Toronto, to study and help the city establish guidelines for what kind of developments should go along the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway.

They both know the Greenway well.

Now Utile has won another piece of the Greenway.

The Boston Harbor Island Alliance and the National Park Service have chosen Utile to design a visitor pavilion on a block of the Greenway known as Parcel 14 -- just north of State Street, adjacent to the Marriott Long Wharf and Christopher Columbus Park.

Utile was selected from a field of 29, according to an alliance press release.

This is the second round for the pavilion. A New York firm was chosen a few years ago and came in with a spectacular vision of a glass box, surrounded by water.

That proved way too expensive, as did scaled-back versions.

So the alliance is starting over.

City officials wanted a year-round structure there, with restrooms and perhaps a coffee shop. That was beyond the alliance's ability to finance.

The recent release says the pavilion will be an information center for the Boston Harbor Islands, and it described as "an open-air pavilion and a series of kiosks and exhibits."

Utile will be working with Reed Hilderbrand, a landscape architect.

This could fill a big gap in the city's and the waterfront's visitor experience.

Originally, the facility was to have been the first structure completed on the Greenway, certainly by now. We wish them success.

Incidentally, there was a digital database presented a few years back at several Artery Business Committee (now called A Better City) meetings, while Tim Love of Utile was a consultant there working on the Chinatown parks. Love reminded us of it in conversation the other night.

David Neilson created the database when he was an urban design consultant heading the North Area Planning Initiative for the ABC. He later worked on the Wharf Area Edges Study.

That database presentation was one of the niftiest depictions we've ever seen of the various uses of real estate. Neilson spent months walking the streets and documenting them, then transferred that data to a computer where it was color-coded, according to how each plot of land was employed: retail, residential, commercial, park, even rubbish areas, and many more.

Unfortunately, most people don't even know that data and presentation exists; we always though the ABC should have shown it at the Boston Public Library, as anyone who had the good fortune to see it at one of its few showings acquired a whole new appreciation for the city's new green corridor, and the city that surrounds it.