Lego HQ Moving to Boston

[Equilibria]

I wonder if LEGO would consider the BxP development at the back bay garage. It looks like they are expecting to be fully relocated by 2026.

Just because it looks like it's built of legos doesn't mean it needs to actually be Lego.

 

[Arlington]

THink they'd go for Suffolk Downs?

 

[awood91]

THink they'd go for Suffolk Downs?

No, they said they are looking for space in “central Boston.”

 

[Equilibria]

I didn't realize this, but the Discovery Center is currently being renovated: https://www.wcvb.com/article/legoland-boston-under-construction-for-upgraded-experience/41424670

 

[Lrfox]

No, they said they are looking for space in “central Boston.”

I'd also assume that means "downtown," but could it be that they just mean "not Cambridge, Somerville, or the 'burbs?" If Vegas was taking bets, my money is easily on the Seaport. But I could also see South Station Tower, Fenway Center, or even Boston Landing.

 

[DBM]

I'd also assume that means "downtown," but could it be that they just mean "not Cambridge, Somerville, or the 'burbs?" If Vegas was taking bets, my money is easily on the Seaport. But I could also see South Station Tower, Fenway Center, or even Boston Landing.

The rough midpoint between Lego in Assembly Square and Lego at 501 Boylston St. (which doesn't appear like it's slated for consolidation into the new offices) would be somewhere on the Orange Line between North Station/Chinatown... which of course leads to the logical, modest proposal: perhaps the Lego engineers can develop a fix for the OL's woes when they arrive here, using nothing but preexisting Lego pieces available on the mass market.

 

[jklo]

I'd also assume that means "downtown," but could it be that they just mean "not Cambridge, Somerville, or the 'burbs?" If Vegas was taking bets, my money is easily on the Seaport. But I could also see South Station Tower, Fenway Center, or even Boston Landing.

Cambridge fits. Logically, since they are already there, staying in the Back Bay would be what you would think. But.... I'll say Cambridge Crossing.

 

[Justbuildit]

I'd also assume that means "downtown," but could it be that they just mean "not Cambridge, Somerville, or the 'burbs?" If Vegas was taking bets, my money is easily on the Seaport. But I could also see South Station Tower, Fenway Center, or even Boston Landing.

SST is a great bet. Haven’t heard of any other commercial tenants

 

[bigpicture7]

Cambridge fits. Logically, since they are already there, staying in the Back Bay would be what you would think. But.... I'll say Cambridge Crossing.

Yeah, I know they said Boston, but CX just seems quite convenient (especially with the new ped connections to Gilmore Bridge, getting to Orange Line and over to assembly is fairly trivial).

An interesting dark horse candidate is actually the 40 Thorndike tower (former Middlesex county courthouse/jail) in east cambridge near Lechmere. That, to my knowledge, doesn't have a tenant announced and is relatively well located (if we assume non- Boston proper is in play). It is also not configured for life sciences.

 

[jklo]

SST is a great bet. Haven’t heard of any other commercial tenants

They said they haven't signed a lease yet. Which kind of makes sense since they said they aren't moving for another 2-3 years.

 

[Equilibria]

Folks, I know I started this, but while speculating is fun the real answer will be boring. They'll just pick up Wayfair's sublease in 500 Boylston or something.

 

[bigpicture7]

Folks, I know I started this, but while speculating is fun the real answer will be boring. They'll just pick up Wayfair's sublease in 500 Boylston or something.

I dunno Equilibria, there's something about aB that sparks imaginative speculation pretty much no matter what. Your attempt at a reality-grounded Debbie Downer post instead just served to shift my inspiration to the opposite direction - to dreaming up the most boring possible outcome:
They'll rent 250 sq-ft at a WeWork, equipped solely with an android receptionist from Boston Dynamics and 25 Zoom pods and call it a day.

 

[jjdemello123@gmail.com]

Lego move to boston

“The move to the new office will happen in a phased way beginning in mid-2025 and completed by the end of 2026. Until then LEGO employees will work across two sites – the existing office in Enfield and the company’s LEGO® Education office in Back Bay, Boston, where new roles will be located.”

“The company will begin a search for a new office location in central Boston.”

looks like Lego is in Back Bay already, maybe they will look to stay in Back Bay for the HQ.

 

[Dr. Rosen Rosen]

Must be related to new HQ right?

2023
By Don Seiffert
The Lego Discovery Center at Assembly Square in Somerville, which closed last fall for a $12 million renovation, will reopen on April 14 with what the company calls "new and reimagined popular experiences" including a space digital experience, a minifigure creator area and Duplo Park.
In an announcement of the grand opening date early Tuesday morning, The company said the new center in Somerville will be 43,000 square feet, which is slightly larger than the old space, and will feature 12 "zones." The company said it's "is designed to allow more family learning-through-play activities and will also include a new team of specialist Playmakers and Master Model Builders" who will run interactive workshops.
Among the new areas at the center are a "Spaceship Build & Scan" zone where visitors can design and build a lego spaceship and "launch it into the digital universe" on a big screen; and an area where people can build their own minifigure, choosing from "a billion Lego heads, bodies, legs, and more," the company said.
In Tuesday's announcement, the company made no mention of its previously reported plans to move its headquarters from Connecticut to Boston. Last month, the company said it's searching for a new office in Boston for its 740 full-time employees now in Enfield, Conn., and that it plans to move starting in mid-2025.
The company said it's hiring for "various full-time and part-time positions" for the center, and is now selling tickets "to allow guests to visit within the first days and weeks of the grand opening."

 

[stick n move]

I know that we have the legoland in assembly, but thats more of an interactive place for kids to play with legos, how cool would it be if they built a world hq lego museum here that showcased the history of lego and all of the coolest lego creations that there has ever been? I think something like that would be a massive hit. If youre lego I think something like this could only be a positive.

 

[Arenacale]

I know that we have the legoland in assembly, but thats more of an interactive place for kids to play with legos, how cool would it be if they built a world hq lego museum here that showcased the history of lego and all of the coolest lego creations that there has ever been? I think something like that would be a massive hit. If youre lego I think something like this could only be a positive.

They have one already - Lego House in Billund. Though an American one in Boston would definitely be a hit. I'd love to see a full chronological physical timeline of sets.

 

[Vagabond]

I know that we have the legoland in assembly

Assembly already is the best location for a Lego Headquarters... It's transit accessible, still set up for suburban commuters, directly next to their Boston flagship store, and will have great signage as an office in a retail-centric new neighborhood. Love the idea of a giant LEGO sign next to PUMA

 

[dshoost88]

How timely: Boston Business Journal dropped an update at 12:40p today about the Lego Boston HQ.

...
The company expects its Boston headquarters to have “500-plus” employees, Lego government affairs executive Carolina Giuga said in an email to state and MassEcon officials on Jan. 23, the day before it announced the decision. Lego said publicly that week that all of the 740 employees at its current Enfield, Connecticut, headquarters could transfer to Boston if they so chose. Giuga specified in the Jan. 23 email that “some roles will be transitioned to other company locations in the U.S.”

As of December, Lego anticipated employing 350 people in the new office by 2025 and 550 people by 2026, according to a project summary in a Dec. 12 email written by Margaret Laforest, a regional director with the Office of Business Development. The average annual wage of the employees is $125,000, Laforest said in the email.

...

Lego announced its move to Boston without having an office picked out. Peter Abair, executive director of MassEcon, said in a Jan. 23 email to Milano that Lego executives “aren’t worried considering the office space availabilities.”

The company is searching for an office in “central Boston close to good commuter and transport links,” Giuga said in her Jan. 23 email. The company already has a small office in Back Bay for its education division. Lego employees will be required to come into the headquarters office three days a week, according to Laforest’s summary of Project Aquarius on Dec. 12.

Lego will indeed have plenty of options, considering the amount of office space available in Boston is as high as it has been in at least 20 years. As of the end of 2022, available sublease space alone was at 3.4 million square feet, an all-time high, according to Colliers. Lego expects to be ready to move into the new headquarters in the first half of 2025, Giuga said in the Jan. 23 email.

Lego will immediately begin recruiting to fill roles in Boston, she wrote, with new hires joining the existing Back Bay office, where there is space for more than 100 people.

Wherever its office in Boston ends up, the company knows it will be in "one of the best cities in the world for attracting, development and retaining talent," Giuga said in explaining the move.

 

[jklo]

How timely: Boston Business Journal dropped an update at 12:40p today about the Lego Boston HQ.

So they are going from 740 employees in CT to 350 in 2025, then maybe 550 in 2026? That's quite the haircut.

 

[Equilibria]

So they are going from 740 employees in CT to 350 in 2025, then maybe 550 in 2026? That's quite the haircut.

It may be, but I interpret that to mean that they'll move gradually from CT.