Quaker Lane + Congress Square | Downtown

In loving memory of the ArchBoston Awards, I would like to go ahead and name this honorary Best New Project 2018.
 
Looks like WeWork is one of the primary tenants (this may have already been covered here somewhere), and they've already signed someone (ezCater - a corporate caterer) to lease the entirety of WeWorks' 100k sq. foot space at 40 Water St.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/busines...-big-tenant/S7lWOxF3cUxHS2ELPwTxGO/story.html

There's a paywall, but the gist beyond ezCater taking all of WeWork's space is that coworking spaces like this are popular, and the freedom to not have to sign long-term leases is appealing to many companies, especially companies not looking for a huge footprint.
 
Lrfox said:
Looks like WeWork is one of the primary tenants (this may have already been covered here somewhere), and they've already signed someone (ezCater - a corporate caterer) to lease the entirety of WeWorks' 100k sq. foot space at 40 Water St.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/busines...-big-tenant/S7lWOxF3cUxHS2ELPwTxGO/story.html

There's a paywall, but the gist beyond ezCater taking all of WeWork's space is that coworking spaces like this are popular, and the freedom to not have to sign long-term leases is appealing to many companies, especially companies not looking for a huge footprint.
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Man, WeWork is going to fall so hard once the market (eventually) turns around. Their entire business model is to sign long-term leases and then turn around and sub-lease the space on shorter terms. That makes pure profit as long as the market keeps going up, but it'll turn into an enormous liability if and when the market takes a turn in the other direction.
 
JumboBuc said:
Man, WeWork is going to fall so hard once the market (eventually) turns around. Their entire business model is to sign long-term leases and then turn around and sub-lease the space on shorter terms. That makes pure profit as long as the market keeps going up, but it'll turn into an enormous liability if and when the market takes a turn in the other direction.
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If WeWork contracts can opt out and renegotiate the leases in a downturn market it might be a great business model in the end.
 
JumboBuc said:
Man, WeWork is going to fall so hard once the market (eventually) turns around. Their entire business model is to sign long-term leases and then turn around and sub-lease the space on shorter terms. That makes pure profit as long as the market keeps going up, but it'll turn into an enormous liability if and when the market takes a turn in the other direction.
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Agreed. Though they may be banking on the shorter-term sublets being appealing even in a down market. Companies looking to downsize after the market turns may like the idea of a shorter term agreement over signing long term somewhere else.
 
While I love the look of this project, I lament the loss of Quaker Lane. It was one of the last 17th C street patterns left in the city; it was where Quakers, a seriously persecuted minority, found a safe haven for a while (until Mary Dyer was hung on Boston Common for her religion and the Quakers followed William Penn's lead and fled the Mass Bay Colony). It was also one of the unusual early American streets that had two crossed lanes with four entrances, now mostly obliterated by the new construction. As a Boston history buff I guess I'll have to content myself with another plaque and a rich imagination. Anyone else feel as I do?
 
Padre Mike said:
While I love the look of this project, I lament the loss of Quaker Lane. It was one of the last 17th C street patterns left in the city; it was where Quakers, a seriously persecuted minority, found a safe haven for a while (until Mary Dyer was hung on Boston Common for her religion and the Quakers followed William Penn's lead and fled the Mass Bay Colony). It was also one of the unusual early American streets that had two crossed lanes with four entrances, now mostly obliterated by the new construction. As a Boston history buff I guess I'll have to content myself with another plaque and a rich imagination. Anyone else feel as I do?
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The lane isn't lost. It's still there, and now receiving some activation.
 
Padre Mike said:
While I love the look of this project, I lament the loss of Quaker Lane. It was one of the last 17th C street patterns left in the city; it was where Quakers, a seriously persecuted minority, found a safe haven for a while (until Mary Dyer was hung on Boston Common for her religion and the Quakers followed William Penn's lead and fled the Mass Bay Colony). It was also one of the unusual early American streets that had two crossed lanes with four entrances, now mostly obliterated by the new construction. As a Boston history buff I guess I'll have to content myself with another plaque and a rich imagination. Anyone else feel as I do?
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Not remotely. Might as well have called it "Contractor Van Lane" for how its public space was perpetually hoarded/hijacked by numerous contractor vans all day long, prior to this redevelopment. The fact that no one in the public remotely cared about this is a testimony to its ultimate status as an interesting historic oddity/curiosity--but not anything that anyone truly cared about.

(And I say that as a history major and history master's holder, concentration in New England history. The Mary Dyer statue at the State House is THE testimonial to the wretchedness of the Puritans' attempt at theocracy. Quaker Lane is really a sideshow to that.)

Now, the hotel will open and they'll have a restaurant and there will be patio seating and it will be reclaimed & revitalized as a public space. I'll take that over Contractor Van Lane 100 times out of 100.
 
Padre Mike said:
While I love the look of this project, I lament the loss of Quaker Lane. It was one of the last 17th C street patterns left in the city; it was where Quakers, a seriously persecuted minority, found a safe haven for a while (until Mary Dyer was hung on Boston Common for her religion and the Quakers followed William Penn's lead and fled the Mass Bay Colony). It was also one of the unusual early American streets that had two crossed lanes with four entrances, now mostly obliterated by the new construction. As a Boston history buff I guess I'll have to content myself with another plaque and a rich imagination. Anyone else feel as I do?
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I have to agree with the others. The promise of renewed activation here is one of the most exciting components of this development.
 
JumboBuc said:
Man, WeWork is going to fall so hard once the market (eventually) turns around. Their entire business model is to sign long-term leases and then turn around and sub-lease the space on shorter terms. That makes pure profit as long as the market keeps going up, but it'll turn into an enormous liability if and when the market takes a turn in the other direction.
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There are some who do not feel this way...an interesting analysis suggests they could be pretty robust:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/13/...on=click&module=Editors Picks&pgtype=Homepage

Their value prop is not readily apparent until you look into it: many of these small (and even mid-size) companies these days that are their tenants want nothing to do with having their own internal "facilities department"...so a big part of what WeWork does is actually service-oriented rather than real estate oriented: taking care of all the peripheral building/space management stuff so the startups don't have to think about a thing...
(that said, the article still suggests their leverage over landlords is more due to the massive square footage they have locked in long-term leases))

Not saying I agree with the analysis verbatim, but it does raise key points about the multiple dimensions at play.
 
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I'm very concerned that this project could be one of the first "high-profile casualties" of the National Grid lock-out's impact on developments that have had the rotten luck to essentially finish everything save their final utility tie-ins:

https://www.bizjournals.com/boston/news/2018/11/09/national-grid-lockout-gas-moratorium-a-recipe-for.html

If the strike causes the hotel, restaurant, office tower, and retail to be delayed long past when it was all supposed to open this year... turd sandwich.
 
I've been told my company's move in date to this building is January 14th. Not all the floors will be fully ready until March, but it will be opening soon!
 
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The worst part of this project. Probably unavoidable, but still sad.
 
removing the ornate grill work etc. from the base of this building was like taking all the frosting off the cake (I believe a phrase once used by Robert Campbell).
 
JANAM said:
Anyone know why they couldn't save/refurbish the old windows, obviously besides VE.
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I think the old windows didn't properly align with either the old or new floors. If one looks at the photo of the new interior with the ten steps leading up from the entrance door, that obviously reflects and continues the old floor arrangement. I believe that the windows that were at or below grade have been filled in, and no longer exist. To preserve the historic appearance of the above grade windows probably required recasting new frames to new dimensions.
 
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