Cambridge Infill and Small Developments

I'll stick this here, given the great number of Alexandria properties in Cambridge.

Huge father-son fight at Alexandria.

Alexandria Real Estate sued Steven Marcus [son of the head of Alexandria] and his startup, RUNLABS, in December for alleged trademark infringement and unfair competition. The suit says he misused Alexandria’s name and logo, an image of the Alexandria lighthouse in ancient Egypt, in fund-raising pitches to venture capitalists.

...
“Steven Marcus has never been an employee or had any formal business relationship with Alexandria, nor has he had any other interest in Alexandria aside from his familial relationship with Joel Marcus [the head of Alexandria],” says the complaint filed in US District Court in San Francisco.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2019/02/07/marcus/tfIaxJZKL6mZMLLqKnr2HK/story.html
 
3-floor office space addition on top of Crimson Galeria in Harvard Square approved earlier this year. Good project though the setbacks seem a bit extreme.
https://therealreporter.com/briefs/...rvard_square_mixed_use_to_add_18000_sf_of_cla
http://cambridge.wickedlocal.com/article/20150723/NEWS/150728934

I thought I remembered an earlier proposal for this site that was controversial and I'm glad I'm not going crazy. Apparently, people were up in arms about the 2014 proposal for housing with some arguments about 'disrespectful' architecture and opposition from the adjacent park's trust for ANY redevelopment whatsoever... 🙄

Hopefully, this could include the redevelopment of the dated 1980s-era galleria, which I assume will be turned into the lobby for the offices above.
 
Globe: Top floor of CambridgeSide mall to become office space

Tim Logan said:
New England Development plans to start work in May on converting the top floor of CambridgeSide, the bustling East Cambridge shopping center, into about 140,000 square feet of office space. Stores on the lower two floors — and a section of the Macy’s department store on the third floor — will remain open during, and after, construction.

The project, which is expected to wrap up early next year, reflects the realities of the national retail, as well as office space in the red-hot East Cambridge real estate market. Even with a $30 million makeover just last year, New England Development has said stores on the third floor of CambridgeSide are struggling to draw foot traffic. Meanwhile office, space in buildings near the mall, which sits just a few blocks north of Kendall Square, is being rented for huge sums of money.

[...]

Also, separately:

Tim Logan said:
New England Development next week is set to unveil plans to add at least 600,000 square feet of new buildings at the mall, particularly along First Street at what’s now an above-ground garage and a shuttered Sears.

At a meeting Tuesday with the Cambridge Planning Board, the firm will launch review of zoning that would enable a series of buildings — featuring office and lab space, and housing, along with ground-floor retail — that it says will “activate” First Street and improve access for pedestrians and cyclists. The buildings could be as tall as 135 feet in places, and at least 20 percent of the project must be housing, according to preliminary plans filed with the city.

[...]
 
As we don't really have a Harvard Cambridge thread, with respect to Herzog & De Meuron and the Gund Center, Harvard's Town Gown Report for 2018 states
"The proposed new space will encourage new forms of cross-disciplinary collaboration by creating an anchored point of intersection among the School’s current studio workspace, faculty and departmental offices, seminar rooms and classrooms, research library, production and fabrication facilities, and new interior spaces designed for informal meetings, social gatherings, and public programs. The new addition is expected to add only a minimal amount to Gund Hall’s physical footprint, eliminating the need for additional land, thereby preserving Harvard GSD’s green space and basketball court."
https://home.planningoffice.harvard...iversity_town_gown_report_2018_web_010219.pdf

The Herzog team is listed here:
https://www.herzogdemeuron.com/index/projects/complete-works/476-500/498-gund-hall-extension.html

The architect of record is Beyer Blinder Belle.
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And if Beeline, if he finds a spare moment in his travels, could swing past 1607 Mass Ave., Harvard says that new building is now complete. :):D
 
Thanks much Beeline.

I like it.

I guess whatever amount the Central Barbershop was offered, it wasn't enough.
 
Whoa, where did these last two come from? I am out of the loop. That Open/Cambridge Street Upper School and the attached community center look fantastic. Love those wide sweeping curves and well-executed color gradation. Two big thumbs up.
 
Love to see this! This is why I don't accept that we need to have grey paneling on everything going up these days. It doesn't take that much more effort to select some nice colors and distribute them on a facade, you just have to care.
 

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