Kendall Common ( née Volpe Redevelopment) | Kendall Sq | Cambridge

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Hot off the BBJ

MIT selected as developer of Kendall Square’s Volpe site
Nov 15, 2016, 3:28pm EST
Morning Edition >> Afternoon Edition >> Breaking News

Catherine Carlock
Real Estate Editor BBJ

The U.S. General Services Administration has selected the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to redevelop the federally-owned Volpe Transportation Center site in Cambridge’s Kendall Square neighborhood.

The 14-acre site is located at 55 Broadway and is widely seen as something of a last frontier of development in one of — if not the — hottest real-estate markets in the country...

“The federal government is pleased to announce the initial selection of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) as the Exchange Partner for the Volpe Project,” said Patrick Sclafani, the public affairs officer for the GSA, in an email. “The next step of the process will be the joint selection of the Design Team by the federal government and the Exchange Partner for the new federal facility.”

The GSA first released a request for information for the development of the Volpe site in August of 2014, following with a request for qualifications in July of 2015 and a request for proposals this June.

Sources with knowledge of the proposals said the seven firms vying to be selected for the Volpe’s redevelopment were Alexandria Real Estate Equities (NYSE: ARE); Biomed Realty and Longfellow Real Estate Partners; Boston Properties (NYSE: BXP); The HYM Investment Group and Tishman Speyer; MIT; Related Beal; and Skanska USA.
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Please be tall, please be tall, fingers crossed. (Sorry for having a bit of a height fetish)

In all seriousness though, will this be an extension of the MIT campus or will MIT act as a private developer?


From the Globe..
It’s unclear what exactly MIT will build there, as the General Services Administration released few details with its announcement and has refused to make public the proposals it received earlier this year. But the project will include a new facility for the transportation agency, and likely a mix of housing, office and lab space that could easily total more than 1 million square feet. Cambridge officials have said they plan to write new zoning rules to allow the winning developer to build out its proposal.
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http://www.bostonglobe.com/business...zmQnDVcTAEjAvt0AF38N/story.html?event=event25
 
tysmith95 said:
Please be tall, please be tall, (crosses fingers)

In all seriousness though, will this be an extension of the MIT campus or will MIT act as a private developer?
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TySmith -- MIT as private developer -- think Tech Square -- even less of a campus connection than the MIT Kendall Initiative -- although don't be surprised if after all is said and done a future campus map has a Building NE 28. MIT likes to plant its academic foot inside the development shoe
 
MIT Statement

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Lets get that super tall. Boston is already starting to move into the London approach of building in many different pockets around the city not concentrated in the high spine or downtown. This would be like our shard across the river. I think it would look great. Even 800 ft would look amazing.
 
stick n move said:
Lets get that super tall. Boston is already starting to move into the London approach of building in many different pockets around the city not concentrated in the high spine or downtown. This would be like our shard across the river. I think it would look great. Even 800 ft would look amazing.
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Maybe even start a little competition between Boston & Cambridge to really get things heading skyward.
 
stick n move said:
Lets get that super tall. Boston is already starting to move into the London approach of building in many different pockets around the city not concentrated in the high spine or downtown. This would be like our shard across the river. I think it would look great. Even 800 ft would look amazing.
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Stick -- it all might come down to Radar

falldown2.gif


The golf ball atop the Green Building is a Weather Radar -- I doubt the Meteorology graduate students would want to miss a cold front coming down from Canada lose the track just as it enters NH and the beam blocked by the Volpe Complex Tower ;)

Don't worry this is not a derailment -- jus t a humourous episode
 
whighlander said:
TySmith -- MIT as private developer -- think Tech Square -- even less of a campus connection than the MIT Kendall Initiative -- although don't be surprised if after all is said and done a future campus map has a Building NE 28. MIT likes to plant its academic foot inside the development shoe
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Will Cambridge +/- MIT ever accomplish a building that is both very tall and architecturally great?

MIT has the financial resources + the minds to crave a high standard.

John-O4411/Globe contributor said:
MIT track record for selecting building designers is horrible!!!! Current campus is not tied together and it appears they employed a lot of former East German architects or old Soviet designers for their current campus buildings....
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Well if MIT has a track record of building Russian style buildings they should totally follow Moscow's lead (minus that highway).

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I'd be pretty surprised if MIT goes tall here. Especially if it's just lab buildings with retail at ground level and some minor residential.
 
meddlepal said:
I'd be pretty surprised if MIT goes tall here. Especially if it's just lab buildings with retail at ground level and some minor residential.
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Meddlepal -- Rumours are rampant that a lot of it will be grad student and young professional housing -- possibly 1000 units
 
Suffolk 83 said:
lol why the hell would MIT go over 300'? You guys are crazy
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Suffolk as part of the Kendall Initiative MIT will demolish the existing "Married" aka grad student housing at Eastgate -- 30 stories and 270+ ft [tied for 5th tallest in Cambridge]

Green Building is 290 ft [Tallest in Cambridge]

Tang Residence Hall is 248 ft

so MIT has certainly got precedents to go to 300 ft or above
 
Suffolk 83 said:
lol why the hell would MIT go over 300'? You guys are crazy
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MIT has the same incentive as anyone else - certainly more than Alexandria would. BU and MIT both have 300' dorm towers at the moment. Not to mention the Tree House and the impressive (but shorter) NEC tower and the (not so impressive) Emerson tower. Dorm towers are a thing.
 
The point was more that MIT isnt going to 1000ft and not anywhere even close
 
Even SUNY Albany with a huge campus chose to build 4 285 foot towers to house students. Colleges seem to love dorm towers.
 
There is as yet, no height in Cambridge (нет). Cambridge is prominent on the list of Nevertall World Cities. The more i think of MIT developing this site, the less excited i get. If they propose something taller than 480' we should declare a national holiday.
 
Suffolk 83 said:
The point was more that MIT isnt going to 1000ft and not anywhere even close
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This. It makes no sense for the university to build a tall tower. MIT has a enormous campus, it doesn't need to build tall.
 
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