Skanska Office Tower | 380 Stuart Street | Back Bay

Permit Pulled for Landmark Back Bay Office Tower​

“A permit valued at over $362M has been pulled to construct the approved 600,000+ square foot office tower at 380 Stuart Street in Back Bay. Situated in the center of Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood, 380 Stuart is an intelligently designed 642,000 SF, 28-story office tower with private terraces, an indoor-outdoor roof deck, elevated amenities, integrated, touchless building systems, and enhanced health and well-being measures…..”

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https://www.bldup.com/posts/permit-pulled-for-landmark-back-bay-office-tower
 
stick n move said:

Permit Pulled for Landmark Back Bay Office Tower​

“A permit valued at over $362M has been pulled to construct the approved 600,000+ square foot office tower at 380 Stuart Street in Back Bay. Situated in the center of Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood, 380 Stuart is an intelligently designed 642,000 SF, 28-story office tower with private terraces, an indoor-outdoor roof deck, elevated amenities, integrated, touchless building systems, and enhanced health and well-being measures…..”
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About time. We've been waiting for this one since 2015.
 
The design doesn't fit happily into this context, but a lot will depend on the glass color and reflectiveness. A muted tone that swallows light would help keep it from overpowering its neighbors. The problem is that instead of supplying texture, the building presents as choppy and rude.

I disagree that height would help with this unless the suggestion is taller and slimmer structures somewhere on either side to offset its peculiarity. A couple buildings around twice the height.
 
Skanska has self-funded in past downturns (e.g. 250 Second St in Cambridge). They have the benefit of having both leasing and construction organizations under one roof.
 
How does this building work on this street? On this sidewalk? It doesn't. That's why were seeing it from this angle.
 
Renders galore, including street level, on the construction website. Don’t think it’s so bad, Stuart with its mix of stone prewar big base buildings and glass newer construction feels like Chicago or parts of lower Manhattan. The wide one way street really adds to the feel (at least between Clarendon and Charles St S).

www.380stuartstreet.com

380 Stuart Street/The Future of Office in Boston's Back Bay

380 Stuart Street is a 625,000 square foot, 28-story office building in Boston's Back Bay neighborhood. The mixed-use building offers private terraces, an indoor/outdoor roof deck, elevated amenities, integrated, touchless building systems and enhanced health and well-being measures.
www.380stuartstreet.com www.380stuartstreet.com
 
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Yes! I was thinking about this recently and hoping for some official news soon.
 
Looks like theres some sort of a roof deck.

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I’m sure its not public, but pretty cool either way.

(For the record I’m not the biggest fan of this tower, but it is what it is.)
 
Mike said:
You can always count on Skanska to get things done.
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What have they gotten done? All this is is the formalization of a permit they paid for 18 months ago. They don’t have financing and haven’t pulled a demolition permit.
 

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kmp1284 said:
What have they gotten done?
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I think they just mean lots of other Boston projects: 101 Seaport, 121 Seaport, Watermark Seaport, Simmons Campus Redevelopment, The Harlo, 2 Drydock, Novartis Campus Cambridge, EF Headquarters Cambridge...

Skanska is uniquely vertically integrated. They often self-finance. And they are both builder and developer.
https://group.skanska.com/about-us/our-services/commercial-development/commercial-development/
"With many of our projects being self-financed, it gives us the flexibility and freedom to make impactful decisions, desired improvements and necessary changes quickly to benefit our clients and the overall project."

It doesn't change your point that there may not actually be a groundbreaking any time soon, but it is also not trivial that this is a Skanska project versus just about anyone else

(I think their 2023 revenue of $15billion and current bonding capacity of $10billion isn't hurting their ability to self-finance either).
 
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bigpicture7 said:
I think they just mean lots of other Boston projects: 101 Seaport, 121 Seaport, Watermark Seaport, Simmons Campus Redevelopment, The Harlo, 2 Drydock, Novartis Campus Cambridge, EF Headquarters Cambridge...

Skanska is uniquely vertically integrated. They often self-finance. And they are both builder and developer.
https://group.skanska.com/about-us/our-services/commercial-development/commercial-development/
"With many of our projects being self-financed, it gives us the flexibility and freedom to make impactful decisions, desired improvements and necessary changes quickly to benefit our clients and the overall project."

It doesn't change your point that there may not actually be a groundbreaking any time soon, but it is also not trivial that this is a Skanska project versus just about anyone else

(I think their 2023 revenue of $15billion and current bonding capacity of $10billion isn't hurting their ability to self-finance either).
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I’m more than familiar with their track record. I was pointing out that this is not likely indicative of the project actually happening. They’re not going to self-finance a $600m project without even a hint of demand. I think it’s more likely they got the permit to assist with selling the project and the property.
 
kmp1284 said:
I’m more than familiar with their track record. I was pointing out that this is not likely indicative of the project actually happening. They’re not going to self-finance a $600m project without even a hint of demand. I think it’s more likely they got the permit to assist with selling the project and the property.
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We all know you already know everything, but when you say things like "what have they accomplished?" and "they don't have financing," I thought it might just be useful to remind you of what you already know.

Maybe they will sell the project, but if this is just the formalization of action taken 18months ago, it could also just be a giant nothingburger all around. If there's no demand, there probably aren't others chomping at the bit to buy the project either. So if there's anyone who is going to sit for a while on a project, might as well be them, as decent or better of a steward of a large Boston project as anyone else.
 
Popping in to add: We confirmed that the abutter lawsuit that would have held up construction was recently dismissed, but we couldn't get anyone from Skanska on the horn immediately to get more details.

bankerandtradesman.com

Back Bay Office Tower Construction Approved

The 26-story, 625,000-square-foot, $363 million 380 Stuart St. tower has been in the planning stages for a decade.
bankerandtradesman.com bankerandtradesman.com

Height, views and shadows, essentially. From our story about a year ago

The lawsuit claims that the BPDA approved a planned development area allowing additional building height so that John Hancock Life Insurance would “maintain its substantial corporate presence in the city of Boston and not move its operations and employees elsewhere.”

The [BPDA] and the Boston Zoning Commission have once again discarded comprehensive planning in favor of a one-off approval of a massive project that does not comply with zoning,” attorney Jeffrey Pyle of Prince Lobel Tye LLP wrote in the complaint.
 
If the proposed hotel goes up on top of the old Red Lantern restaurant, won't that hide this Skanska building from most of the rendering views that are shown like this one? Plus those office views will have a view into the hotel rather than over the South End. That seems like a somewhat poor investment while trying to snag companies to locate within a new tower that has very limited view corridors.

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Banker & Tradesman said:
Popping in to add: We confirmed that the abutter lawsuit that would have held up construction was recently dismissed, but we couldn't get anyone from Skanska on the horn immediately to get more details.
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Skanska did get back to us eventually and we've updated the story: ”We are confident about the future of office in Boston and are encouraged by recent trends that reinforce the city as our region’s economic engine. In an evolving market, we are positioning ourselves to be ready to start at the appropriate time so that we can deliver a dynamic building to the Back Bay at 380 Stuart Street. At this time, we have not set a specific start date."
 
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