Recent content by Brandeisian

It was exciting to see a large commercial space dedicated to non biotech use. Apparently Greentown labs is the largest climate tech incubator in the US (significant enough that the future King of England visited it less than a year ago as part of the Moonshot awards). As someone involved in...

I’ve been thinking about the political incentives behind green building mandates a lot - and my layman’s assumption is that dense housing in urban centers is so much better for the environment no matter the code. Forget natural gas, these places could be running exclusively coal fired ovens and...

Fire access is right. My father is a fire fighter in the area. The state forest back there is pretty swampy and with the comeback of beavers in the area has only gotten more so. When a long drought dries it out, the peat can really light up and can’t be put out easily because it burns...

This whole thing needs a NSFW tag - it is urbanist pornography. What 50 shades of grey was for women over 40, this is for me. So refreshing to see a development project not be deferential to absurd claims and say what we are all thinking.

It’s partially why. Not as many people would hate the building if it was nestled among others. It still wouldn’t be beautiful but it’d be an interesting oddity. Brutalist public buildings often have wide, paved plazas and the attempt to create an open space for public gathering often created the...

Would this be considered a success story of the recent office crash? I’m sure the ability to get a great deal on a lease downtown sweetened the deal. Will we see more HQ moves while CBD office space is plentiful and cheap?

And even among the people that do validate, many think you just validate the card and don’t realize there’s a ticket. When I go to work in the morning I can just reach in the machine and there are a dozen tickets from that morning just sitting there. Also if there is a train coming in 1-2...

I think the point of agreement here is the middle ground reality: permanent wfh isn’t going to be the dominant thing but five days a week in the office is also dead. Many professionals seem to be trending to a 3 days a week in the office thinking. I think this will expand our definitions of...

I recently joined a big-law firm in Boston. I expected to be in the office a lot more, but the firm saw big improvements in the lateral market by offering generous wfh options. I’m in the office two days a week and only need to be in one. I chose Somerville for lifestyle, but Wfh had an effect...

Able Company seems the most ambitious by a clear margin. Looks like most of these don’t even attempt any air rights.

That always felt like a weird spot for them. I’ve worked with a couple start ups and MassChallenge in that building/area. It’s tough to get to and feels like a place for a scrappy start up with employees that expect some inconveniences to “chase the dream.” That’s not Reebok. Compare to Puma...

I work for the Boston office of major Bay Area firm involved in VC. We recently had an analysis done to determine the best markets to open an office in next. Miami did not fare well. From my understanding the reasoning was that it is a tax play more than a hub of innovation. Lots of groups...

I think that pier is part of a Trustees of Reservations plan to expand their urban footprint. See: https://onewaterfront.thetrustees.org/pp3

I used to live in Brookline and work by Alewife - terrible commute walking, riding the 66, then taking the red line. Was always amused on warmer days when I took a blue bike from Harvard and managed to beat the bus home handily. The leg burning description of going up that ramp is an...

Those places had amazing bones for the most part. I can’t think of a more poorly designed part of the state. People turning off into narrow parking after going 60+ and almost getting rear ended and then to get back out having to launch like a rocket ship to merge. Throw in the drinking...