535-545 Boylston St. Redevelopment | Back Bay

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whighlander

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Apparently John Hancock is hooked on the Back Bay -- the BBJ reports that

John Hancock set to acquire Back Bay offices for $100M
Jul 5, 2016, 5:08pm EDT

Catherine Carlock
Real Estate Editor
Boston Business Journal

John Hancock is slated to own another piece of Boston’s Back Bay with the anticipated closing of a $100 million deal.

The financial services giant has been selected as the buyer for 535-545 Boylston St., according to several real estate sources with knowledge of the deal. The two adjoining 13-story office properties face Copley Square and together span 184,222 square feet.

John Hancock was selected from several bidders, including Intercontinental Real Estate, DivcoWest and Tishman Speyer, real estate sources said. The bidding teams presented a number of redevelopment options for the properties, including consolidating and creating larger floorplates among the two properties or “re-skinning” the buildings’ facades.
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Is a tall slender, and transparent mixed office and residence tower a possibility here on the edge of Copley Sq.
 
whighlander said:
Apparently John Hancock is hooked on the Back Bay -- the BBJ reports that


Is a tall slender, and transparent mixed office and residence tower a possibility here on the edge of Copley Sq.
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So this just means they are re-skinning? As in adding some kind of glass cladding?
 
whighlander said:
Is a tall slender, and transparent mixed office and residence tower a possibility here on the edge of Copley Sq.
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These properties are in the Back Bay Architectural District. Under the guidelines for the District, height of new buildings "shall reflect the dominant cornice heights of surrounding buildings." A tall tower will never be approved in this location.
 
I know it is their front yard, but it is interesting that JH beat out 3 large Real Estate Development companies.
 
dirtywater said:
These properties are in the Back Bay Architectural District. Under the guidelines for the District, height of new buildings "shall reflect the dominant cornice heights of surrounding buildings." A tall tower will never be approved in this location.
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Dirtywater -- as Bill Clinton once said "It all depends on what the meaning of is... is"

What about the Cornice Height of 200 Clarendon directly across the street
 
Wait a minute.

John Hancock sold its own building - the 60-story office tower, and now, it wants to buy other buildings? Go figure.
 
Jahvon09 said:
Wait a minute.

John Hancock sold its own building - the 60-story office tower, and now, it wants to buy other buildings? Go figure.
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Jahvon -- my guess is some senior level employees like the location in the Back Bay

So we will soon have the group down in the Seaport and also the group in the Back Bay in the new building that they have already proposed

The real question is this just an opportunity for investment or is there more here
 
John Hancock is building a new (short) tower on Stuart Street across the street from the original Hancock building.

whighlander said:
Jahvon -- my guess is some senior level employees like the location in the Back Bay

So we will soon have the group down in the Seaport and also the group in the Back Bay in the new building that they have already proposed

The real question is this just an opportunity for investment or is there more here
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John Hancock (JH) is now (as of 2007?) a subsidiary of Manulife. Manulife has a building in the Seaport, where there are some Hancock employees including lots of senior management and some of their investment teams. JH also has employees in two buildings in back bay. One of these is being redeveloped as noted above.

The other is the old John Hancock (can't remember actual address). John Hancock spent millions renovating their office space there. They have and will likely still have a massive presence in Back Bay for years going forward.
 
I was referring to this comment.
"What about the Cornice Height of 200 Clarendon directly across the street"
 
JeffDowntown said:
These buildings are on the north side of Boylston.
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JeffDowntown -- there is nothing remotely historic about the Darth Vader Building on Boylston

large_014e6cab6cb4514cb3ca4bfed8fa76cb.jpg


So the NIMBY argument against a tower on the corner of Boylston & Clarendon replacing these
535main.jpg

holds no water what so ever
 
Boston02124 said:
Not sure where to put this news but I just saw a rendering for a 40 story tower at 1000 Boylston st , as always I can't post a pic, someone else will get all the glory, I think there's a thread for this some where I couldn't find it ,ill just say it looks like one of the twin towers proposed for Winthrop sq by Transnational but with balconies
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Are we talking about air rights? If so, I'll believe it the day it opens.
 
Is it a new render, and does it fit into one of these parcels?


H8AtZp3.png


backbaydev1.jpg


I hope there is news on this but I havent heard anything.
 
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