MIT SoMa Building 2 | 200 Main Street | Kendall Square

3.5.24:

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I spoke to someone on site today. Was told that once they finish building out the garage, that this project will be put on ice until further notice. Apparently the developers are waiting for a long-term tenant(s) before building continues.
 
taketern said:
I spoke to someone on site today. Was told that once they finish building out the garage, that this project will be put on ice until further notice. Apparently the developers are waiting for a long-term tenant(s) before building continues.
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Thanks for the insights. Having been an observer of construction sites for decades and having a general sense of the workflows (including abandonment of projects), this one was truly baffling to me. The vertical progress had clearly begun and then paused, with no crane being installed when it seemed to call for one; yet, the site at ground/subterranean levels continued to clearly be staffed / being worked. It was so odd to see activity, yet entirely limited to the garage levels.

But as I think about this more deeply, this isn't the first time MITIMCo has done something like this; it just wasn't as dramatic in the other case since there was no garage. That other case was the One65 Main residential tower. They built part of the ground level and started the core (with rebar poking up, etc), then paused for a year IIRC before the tower frame was begun. In that case, part of the ground level was shared with the Brothers' supermarket, which opened far in advance of the tower. Normally construction pauses scare me, but MIT/MITIMCo is a rare case of greater confidence, given the prime location of this parcel, the high interest rates slated to come down soon, and the fact that MIT clearly will not want a part-built rusty steel frame sitting in front of the Sloan School for an extended period. They always have the option to build it out for institutional use if they can't find a tenant, yet if rates become more favorable.
 
bigpicture7 said:
Thanks for the insights. Having been an observer of construction sites for decades and having a general sense of the workflows (including abandonment of projects), this one was truly baffling to me. The vertical progress had clearly begun and then paused, with no crane being installed when it seemed to call for one; yet, the site at ground/subterranean levels continued to clearly be staffed / being worked. It was so odd to see activity, yet entirely limited to the garage levels.

But as I think about this more deeply, this isn't the first time MITIMCo has done something like this; it just wasn't as dramatic in the other case since there was no garage. That other case was the One65 Main residential tower. They built part of the ground level and started the core (with rebar poking up, etc), then paused for a year IIRC before the tower frame was begun. In that case, part of the ground level was shared with the Brothers' supermarket, which opened far in advance of the tower. Normally construction pauses scare me, but MIT/MITIMCo is a rare case of greater confidence, given the prime location of this parcel, the high interest rates slated to come down soon, and the fact that MIT clearly will not want a part-built rusty steel frame sitting in front of the Sloan School for an extended period. They always have the option to build it out for institutional use if they can't find a tenant, yet if rates become more favorable.
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Also the hub on casueway was designed to be able to sit with just the podium built and office tower afterwards. There was actually a lag that wasn't super noticeable but the anchor lease got executed with Verizon so BXP resumed and kept going vertical.
 
Is it impossible for these projects to just go to building residential where demand is pretty much guaranteed at this point and is probably in the long run essential to making this density of office and labs viable? Or at least hotel. Why does everything have to be lab/office or no build?
 
Jouhou said:
Is it impossible for these projects to just go to building residential where demand is pretty much guaranteed at this point and is probably in the long run essential to making this density of office and labs viable? Or at least hotel. Why does everything have to be lab/office or no build?
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I'm with you on this sentiment 99% of the time, but in this unique case, this same developer already has 4 residential towers in the queue across the street, as well as 4 more lab/offices within a few hundred yard radius. Rather than pay the expense to convert this particular design that is already well underway to residential, I think they'd rather advance those other next-in-queue residentials and then perhaps convert the not-yet-started labs into residentials before bearing the conversion expense on this one. Also bear in mind that they didn't do an abrupt stop work on this (as we've seen at other lab sites), rather, after the pause decision, they still completed and weather-tightened the underground garage. So I think they invested for this one to be able to rise quickly upon finding a tenant.
 
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bigpicture7 said:
I'm with you on this sentiment 99% of the time, but in this unique case, this same developer already has 4 residential towers in the queue across the street, as well as 4 more lab/offices mere hundreds of yards away. Rather than pay the expense to convert this design that is already well underway to residential, I think they'd rather advance those other four residentials and even next convert the not-yet-started labs to residentials before bearing the conversion expense on this one.
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Just... If you look at what's still under construction in boston https://www.commercialedge.com/blog/national-office-report/ , and most of that is lab space, there will be no room for any new commercial builds anytime soon. Although I'm not sure if paused projects like this don't count for "under construction" in this data.
 
Jouhou said:
Just... If you look at what's still under construction in boston https://www.commercialedge.com/blog/national-office-report/ , and most of that is lab space, there will be no room for any new commercial builds anytime soon. Although I'm not sure if paused projects like this don't count for "under construction" in this data.
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Yeah, but that doesn't take into account the weird buddy relationships in the life sciences niche. Not disputing there's a glut of supply overall, but the top most lab developers have their leads while almost no one else does. There have been recent published rumblings about this developer already in talks with a prospective tenant looking to trade spaces in Kendall. BXP and MITIMCo have been moving projects along even in the worst of times (for instance, why on earth is BXP proposing a demolition/bigger-rebuild of existing commercial space into more labs despite the glut? These people still have their active client relationships/prospects despite the overall market being completely in the dumps).

I save my frustration for the devs who hard-pivoted to labs in the middle of the pandemic who never got their projects off the ground, etc, now sitting on vacant land parcels. It's those folks who need to convert their gravel pits to residential asap. And there are numerous candidates for that just within a 1.5 mile radius of here.
 
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Jouhou said:
Just... If you look at what's still under construction in boston https://www.commercialedge.com/blog/national-office-report/ , and most of that is lab space, there will be no room for any new commercial builds anytime soon. Although I'm not sure if paused projects like this don't count for "under construction" in this data.
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I almost agree with you 100%, except there is no better neighborhood in the Commonwealth more suitable for lab space than Kendall. The overall demand for labs across the metro might be falling, but Kendall will always be desirable from this standpoint. It's the lab projects in other neighborhoods that should be switching over to residential. For instance, there's a pair of ~350' labs planned for Assembly that should instead be a pair of 30+ story residentials.
 
DZH22 said:
... For instance, there's a pair of ~350' labs planned for Assembly that should instead be a pair of 30+ story residentials.
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And the stalled, lab-earmarked Parcel Q that is now a gravel pit at Cambridge Crossing...and that stalled, lab-earmarked gravel pit on McGrath Highway...there are so many that should be converted to tall residential.

This one has a fully installed foundation and completed/permitted design specific to a ~12 story lab. It would have to be uprooted to be redone, and, as you point out (when combined with my point above) has decently good prospects for succeeding as a lab. Whereas there are countless others a mere mile+ away that were ill-advised attempts at a lab that are now stopped without much progress and it is nonsensical that they're not proceeding as residential.

Like you, I agree with jouhou's point 99%. I just think there are a very small number of slots in Kendall, like this, that actually make sense as lab, and everything else should be residential.
 
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