Forest City/MIT Project @ University Park | 300 Massachusetts Ave | Cambridge

look more closely
its not finished
UniversityPark_3.jpg

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University Stationary is taking one of (if not) the smallest retail spaces here.
As far as I know all of the retail spaces are spoken for, with a number of lease agreements signed. If anything hasn't been made public beyond U. Stationary, I won't elaborate. The base building design allows for up to 3 food service (cooking) tenants however. Hopefully we keep getting more diversity here, and hopefully more moderate pricing for food in the area.

I prefer the approach the developer took here. It allows (and forces) the tenants to customize their own entrances. This should lead to a more diverse changing street wall as opposed to the standard podium retail where they all look identical with different logos. It feels cheap usually, like an outdoor mall where they just hang their names.
 
SeamusMcFly said:
As far as I know all of the retail spaces are spoken for, with a number of lease agreements signed. If anything hasn't been made public beyond U. Stationary, I won't elaborate. The base building design allows for up to 3 food service (cooking) tenants however. Hopefully we keep getting more diversity here, and hopefully more moderate pricing for food in the area.
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Roxy's A4cade has publicly said they'll be here: http://boston.eater.com/2015/11/5/9674156/roxys-area-four-arcade-cambridge

I'm very excited about this. Not only is it an exciting food concept (a mashup of two local favorites), but it also brings something to do to the late night scene.
 
SeamusMcFly said:
I prefer the approach the developer took here. It allows (and forces) the tenants to customize their own entrances. This should lead to a more diverse changing street wall as opposed to the standard podium retail where they all look identical with different logos. It feels cheap usually, like an outdoor mall where they just hang their names.
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Wow - AWESOME! This is exactly the problem I have with all modern developments - the fronts all look the same other than the fonts of the signs and the heterogeneity of yesteryear is lost. Really great to hear this and gives hope for the future in general in terms of leaving room for diversity on the street.


..... EDIT. - then I read the next thread and clicked the link..
34f34f said:
Roxy's A4cade has publicly said they'll be here: http://boston.eater.com/2015/11/5/9674156/roxys-area-four-arcade-cambridge

I'm very excited about this. Not only is it an exciting food concept (a mashup of two local favorites), but it also brings something to do to the late night scene.
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And now, ANOTHER trend that I have despised - the loss of the Good Time/Lucky Strike/Ryan Family type arcades over the past many years - places with something to, as you say, DO - is here reversed! Much good news about this building... Very exciting.
 
I'm hoping it works out that way. Because, ultimately the developer still owes them a storefront. The tenant would have the option to better customize, but anything above and beyond what the developer owns is in the tenants dime.

So it's not a guarantee of different storefronts, but a better chance. At least the option can be there. It's also smart of the developer, as I think it might save them a couple bucks as well. That and doing something, then having it changed by the tenant is a waste as well.
 
SeamusMcFly said:
I'm hoping it works out that way. Because, ultimately the developer still owes them a storefront. The tenant would have the option to better customize, but anything above and beyond what the developer owns is in the tenants dime.

So it's not a guarantee of different storefronts, but a better chance. At least the option can be there. It's also smart of the developer, as I think it might save them a couple bucks as well. That and doing something, then having it changed by the tenant is a waste as well.
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This is surely all spelled out in the contracts. "Tenant improvement allowances", where landlords put up a certain amount of money to fit out a space for a new tenant, are standard in most commercial leases.
 
Patiently waiting for the barcade on the ground floor to open.
 
I remember when this was first proposed, the community was angry over its mass and aesthetic integration with some of the historic brick buildings around it. In response, the architects' approach is what you see in BeeLine's first photo of this set: gradual step-ups from the yellow-brick (dormitory) building on the far left, leading to the massive lab mechanical penthouse that's at the far right of this structure (evident from the backside in BeeLine's last photo). While putting lipstick on a lab building's mechanicals is always a challenge (and clearly they made no effort on the backside), I think from the Mass Ave side it actually integrates quite well (all things considered).
 
bigpicture7 said:
I remember when this was first proposed, the community was angry over its mass and aesthetic integration with some of the historic brick buildings around it. In response, the architects' approach is what you see in BeeLine's first photo of this set: gradual step-ups from the yellow-brick (dormitory) building on the far left, leading to the massive lab mechanical penthouse that's at the far right of this structure (evident from the backside in BeeLine's last photo). While putting lipstick on a lab building's mechanicals is always a challenge (and clearly they made no effort on the backside), I think from the Mass Ave side it actually integrates quite well (all things considered).
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Definitely. They pushed the mass to the back and so the front came out really nice IMO. Green Street is so narrow, any building was going to feel like a monolith there regardless.
 
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