SUPERCEDED MXD | Kendall Square

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stellarfun said:
From the Globe on August 27.
"Executives with the big developer [BP] said last month that they’re in “advanced discussions” with a tenant for the office building."

So who might that be?
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My guess is Akamai

They're currently renting a hodgepodge of space in kendall and are looking to consolidate. Also were weighing a move across the river, but, I believe, recently expressed that they'd decided to stay true to their kendall roots.
 
I know this is an unpopular opinion alert, but I do like the buildings being limited to around 300 feet in Kendall. I.M. Pei's original vision for the Green Building was that it would be the tallest building in Cambridge. Given its secondary utility as a display screen and the original vision, I like it being prominent as the tallest building in the skyline. I know that's probably a silly reason to height limit, although I think we can do a lot in the area with 300 feet.

That said, this is probably going to happen, and given that, I must say the design for this building is beautiful. I did like the smaller scale of the building it's replacing, as it added some variety height-wise, but I can't say I'll exactly miss it (and its lack of ground-level retail).

I'm excited for the B building to finally activate that vacant space.
 
bigpicture7 said:
My guess is Akamai

They're currently renting a hodgepodge of space in kendall and are looking to consolidate. Also were weighing a move across the river, but, I believe, recently expressed that they'd decided to stay true to their kendall roots.
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That would make a lot of sense. They took a hard look at BP's Causeway Project, a build to suit in Kendall with the same developer might have been the counter proposal after they said publicly they would stay in Cambridge. Looks like BP moved this Project up so they clearly are in advanced discussions. Then again it could be another unkown out of towner...but this doesnt look like a lab type space so my guess is tech.
 
I'm hoping that it's Aetna, there's been rumours that they are planning to move out of Connecticut.
 
tysmith95 said:
I'm hoping that it's Aetna, there's been rumours that they are planning to move out of Connecticut.
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I would be very surprised if a health insurance company decided to move to Kendall Square rather than, say, the financial district.
 
tysmith95 said:
I'm hoping that it's Aetna, there's been rumours that they are planning to move out of Connecticut.
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TySmith -- Very very unlikely -- why pay the highest rent in the Boston Area for office space -- especially given the financial problems that ObamaCare is causing the health insurance industry

No -- if its a "Name" it will be a prominent tech name appropriate for such a prominent Tech location -- one suggestion has been Samsung -- they are used to urban-type locations and its well known that the head has been interested in a Boston-area location for a major facility
 
whighlander said:
TySmith -- Very very unlikely -- why pay the highest rent in the Boston Area for office space -- especially given the financial problems that ObamaCare is causing the health insurance industry

No -- if its a "Name" it will be a prominent tech name appropriate for such a prominent Tech location -- one suggestion has been Samsung -- they are used to urban-type locations and its well known that the head has been interested in a Boston-area location for a major facility
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way off man...Aetna and its peers have done exceptionally well since obamacare...it has been a boon and basically returned 400%+....remind me not to get financial advice from you!

sorry for the unrelated to boston arch post. I do not think an insurance company would put their hq in kendall. backbay near liberty, hancock, mass mut
 
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novacat said:
way off man...Aetna and its peers have done exceptionally well since obamacare...it has been a boon and basically returned 400%+....remind me not to get financial advice from you!
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Very true; ACA has boosted overall health business and spawned a multi-billiondollar healthcare IT industry due to the standardized EMR and quality of care requirements (e.g., you don't get paid if you're a provider unless you deliver certain specific scope of health services given the patient's condition). What this has done is weeded out the sleezebag companies from trying to scam medicare, shifted the business to the better ones, increased overall business b/c there are more customers getting healthcare, and spawed a ton of health IT companies to sell services to the insurers (e.g., Watertown's athenahealth).

Back on track:
if we're talking incumbent cambridge companies, I'd say Akamai or hubspot probably lead the list. A long shot / crazy idea would be Bose b/c I'd heard they were interested in cambridge R&D office, but I doubt it's this location b/c way too much sq. footage for that. Another longshot is Amazon Robotics (formerly kiva) who are out in andover and there are rumors they want a kendall presence. Meanwhile microsoft is reducing their kendall sq. footage, so that opens up other non-lab space.
 
I very much doubt it is either a pharma or a financial services company (including a health insurer). And this is an office building, not a lab, not a fabrication facility.

So bigpicture's guess of Akamai might be on the mark. They have enough employees in Cambridge to take all of the building, they currently lease from BP, they have been looking. (I think if a single tenant takes the whole building, they have a 1,000+ employees who would work there.)

A variant of the above would be for a company like Google, who would move to this new and bigger space, vacating space that then could be offered to Akamai.
 
Could be Philips, too, though I bet they are waiting for hubspot to leave so they can just take more of 2 canal park
 
An argument can be made that its a Silicon Valley firm that wants to expand its Cambridge / Boston presence. And there's probably no small number of those.

From a housing / transportation standpoint, the SV and SF are super-saturated, and I would think there are firms that feel they have to off-load their headquarters location demand to elsewhere. Google is at the point of running buses to Mountain View from San Rafael. That's the equivalent of a Kendall company shuttling employees to work from their homes north of Manchester NH. (And housing isn't cheap in Marin, either.)

And then there is the matter of the Hayward Fault being overdue.
 
stellarfun said:
So bigpicture's guess of Akamai might be on the mark. They have enough employees in Cambridge to take all of the building, they currently lease from BP, they have been looking. (I think if a single tenant takes the whole building, they have a 1,000+ employees who would work there.).
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Agree with the Akamai thoughts as well. After giving up the move to downtown and saying they want a new building in Kendall - this fits the bill to consolidate all there rentals into one location.

But, that would mean their current building would need a new tenant....
 
Akamai to fill 145 Broadway
Boston Globe said:
On Friday, Erica Chapman, Akamai’s vice president of corporate services, said the company has signed a letter of intent with real estate developer Boston Properties for a long-term lease to fill the 454,000 square feet of office space that will be built at 145 Broadway. The four-story office building on the site is slated for demolition.
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Seeking State tax break to help them keep employees in Cambridge.
 
Cambridge tech giant Akamai Technologies has agreed to lease at least 630,000 square feet in Kendall Square for a minimum of $698.4 million over a period of 15 years, the largest lease consideration for a real-estate deal in the state in at least three years.
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A 15-year lease for the first 486,048 square feet starts on Dec. 2, 2019 at a rental rate of $68.50 per square foot, with annual $1 increases, according to the lease specifics outlined in an SEC filing.
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http://www.bizjournals.com/boston/n...mmits-to-700m-office-deal-states-biggest.html
 
Did I miss something? Was this ever approved?

I guess it must be if akamai has signed on
 
617 said:
Did I miss something? Was this ever approved?

I guess it must be if akamai has signed on
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Article I read said it is still pending approval from the City of Cambridge Planning Board and the Cambridge Redevelopment Authority.

I have to assume that the Akamai deal makes it harder for them to get turned down.
 
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