Tishman Speyer Lab/Office | 232 A Street | Fort Point

Equilibria

Equilibria

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LOI: https://bpda.app.box.com/s/ien2kxj4m16dm40955fj9vlaalbcu6q6

This parcel is next door to the Related Beal development.

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Good find. That's an odd parcel that has at least one easement/reserved ROW associated with the Mass Pike Tunnel emergency exit headhouse (little gray rectangle under the middle lane labeled "Mass Pike" in your pic). Glad every scrap is going to be developed along the channel, but it's a funky long and narrow piece of land, especially as compared to the nicely done Channel Side development that will fill the gap down to Necco St. Hoping they can get creative with it!
 
Pretty soon the Postal Service might be the only surface parking lot left.
 
It’s the listing on the city’s parcel viewer at the top that makes it look like a wedge. Don’t want to discount slick 3D renders, but hard not to take the .gov site seriously. Also, if it were rectangular the entire loading dock side on the existing Gillette building would be useless (if it’s in use at all).
 
cburns said:
I could be just the perspective, but the A street frontage looks about the same in both the phot from B&T and the 3D model; notice how the parcel is flanked by Binford to the north and "Mt Washington Ave" to the south in both renderings
Click to expand...

I think you can see that zigzag fence line as a "road" just beyond the edge of the parcel in the parcel map, so the parcel B&T drew is definitely differently shaped. I agree that I trust the official map more.
 
From google maps, it's just below Binford Street Park. I put this to 2d so it's from directly above and won't skew the angles.

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Not to get people's hopes up this early, but Tishman, Payette, and mikyong kim design all on the same team, next to the relatively nice Related Beal developments, isn't too bad. It's probably no front-page showstoppers or anything, but fairly up there for labs and offices...
 
BTW, this looks like it's a Breakthrough Properties project (which I think is some sort of subsidiary or life sciences arm of Tishman). If you click on "United States - East" within here, you can see they have a few Boston area projects:

Portfolio - Breakthrough Properties

Through our global perspective and experience in delivering world-class innovation properties, our platform delivers a higher standard of quality to the
btprop.com

This one is listed, as well as their other on A St., and interestingly, the Office-Lab conversion going on at One Canal Park in Cambridge
 
Breakthrough is newish to the industry and making a run as a new big player in strong life sciences markets, think competing with Alexandria and other really big fish. They’re a joint venture between Tishman and the Belldegrun family’s BellCo (biotech billionaire couple who’s diversifying into a bunch of things). 105 W 1st St (edit: not A St) is a great project and hoping this one goes smoothly. Not a critique at all but the CEO of Breakthrough is the son of said billionaire so they’re very much committed to the industry.
 
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Yep that’s right, but the fence line, tunnel stair head house, loading dock, and city parcel viewer suggested different shapes. The larger single building with waterfront park was a nice surprise as well. The 100 acre plan and other renderings show a giant rectangular blob from end to end.

Btw, Tishman anticipates a PNF mid year so we’ll get a better sense in a few months.
 
BPDA page shows the PNF as having been filed on the 28th but the link isn't accessible and there's nothing in the Article 80 library...this definitely wasn't updated on the 28th, as this project was nowhere on the BPDA active project list just yesterday. Hope they fix the link so we can see the renders. Whether the dollars are there to actually build it is another question.

232 A Street | Bostonplans.org

Development Projects and Planned Development Areas (PDAs) that the Development Review division is coordinating.
www.bostonplans.org www.bostonplans.org

EDIT, doc now available. Not a ton of renders, but it's smaller than I thought and they've kept the waterfront uninterrupted and provided park space along the pedestrian right of way, which should allow for seamless connection between the Gillette property line and the rest of Fort Point Seaport.

Can't get a sense of the materials, but the full glass wall facing the water should be great for those who work in the building.

bpda.app.box.com

2023-07-28_Project Notification Form (PNF)_232 A Street.pdf | Powered by Box

bpda.app.box.com bpda.app.box.com


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www.bostonglobe.com

Yet more Fort Point parking lots could soon be lab space - The Boston Globe

A development firm has filed plans to build on former Gillette land on the edge of South Boston.
www.bostonglobe.com www.bostonglobe.com

".......Breakthrough Properties intends to raise the 232 A St. site up to 21.6 feet to accommodate sea level rise and “provide a continuous elevated grade at the proposed berm design level that both ties into future resiliency plans on each of the neighboring properties and integrates seamlessly into the landscape design while also allowing for greater accessibility and view corridors,” the developers wrote in a July 28 project notification form to the BPDA.

It’s unclear if Breakthrough would start construction without a tenant pre-leased. The firm expects construction to start within six months to a year after winning city approvals and estimates it would take three years to complete."
 
Glad that something is being built but I'm still scratching my head at all of this new lab space. There are already articles saying there's too much supply and not enough demand for these developments. If these firms can get financing for lab space why is it soo hard to get financing for residential and actually make more dents in Boston's housing crisis?
 
So from what I can tell, including from Shmessy's quote, is that this building may be fully (or nearly) within all zoning limitations for the site, and therefore may have a quick path to breaking ground. There's going to be a musical chairs dynamic at some point, and as a developer you don't have to be in the best seat when the music stops but you absolutely can't be left standing. This site is zoned commercial/light industry and so getting housing for this particular site would have probably been harder than a lab that's within zoning regs.

If these guys can front run the competition, get this open before some competitive new lab space that is still getting their ducks in order, they may be banking on speed and picking up what's left rather than just entering a super underserved market.

Just look at next door at the huge Channelside project. It's approved, required a large number of variances (and endless neighborhood meetings), and still hasn't broken ground.
 
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