Boston prospects

News

25 January 1986

It is curious that Boston, despite having one of the healthiest office markets in the USA, has attracted relatively little attention from UK investors and developers.

After all, as agents Norman Rourke & Partners, who have an office in the city, point out in a report published this week, the city boasts the third highest office rents in the country. It has the seventh largest central business district office market and among the lowest vacancy levels.

It is true that the level of vacancy in Boston is above the city’s historic average, but at the same time the city has enjoyed a high level of absorption — Rourkes note that just two developments, One Financial Centre and 53 State Street, added no less than 2.1m sq ft to the city’s stock last year and these buildings are now reported to be 60% let.

One of the secrets of Boston’s success is that it has planning controls, exercised by the Boston Redevelopment Agency. The BRA governs both the volume of new development and the scale and design of individual buildings, thus creating a planning environment very familiar to UK investors.

A combination of controls by BRA and the projected growth in the local economy should ensure that there will be no serious imbalance between supply and demand, despite the fact that some 9m sq ft of new office development is being proposed by 1990.

Although UK involvement in the Boston market has not been as great as in some other US cities, Norman Rourke identify a number of projects in or near Boston in which British firms have been involved.

One of the more active has been Centros Properties, who have four projects in or around the city. These include a 50,000-sq ft downtown building at 176 Federal Street for refurbishment; a 160,000-sq ft office development in Canton Street, Westwood; a 90,000-sq ft warehouse project at Norwood; and the 170,000-sq ft Centros House office scheme on the Massachusetts Turnpike at Framingham.

A significant amount of the Westwood development (shown here) has been prelet, with McDonald’s Corporation taking half of the top floor, amounting to some 31,670 sq ft, at a rent of around $21 a sq ft. The other half of the same floor is prelet to human resources consultants Costello Erdlen & Co.

Copies of the report can be obtained from Norman Rourke & Partners at 63 Grosvenor Street, London W1X 9DA.

It is curious that Boston, despite having one of the healthiest office markets in the USA, has attracted relatively little attention from UK investors and developers. After all, as agents Norman Rourke & Partners, who have an office in the city, point out in a report published this week, the city boasts the third highest office rents in the country. It has the seventh largest central business district office market and among the lowest vacancy levels. It is true that the level of vacancy in Boston is above the city’s historic average, but at the same time the city has enjoyed a high level of absorption — Rourkes note that just two developments, One Financial Centre and 53 State Street, added no less than 2.1m sq ft to the city’s stock last year and these buildings are now reported to be 60% let. One of the secrets of Boston’s success is that it has planning controls, exercised by the Boston Redevelopment Agency. The BRA governs both the volume of new development and the scale and design of individual buildings, thus creating a planning environment very familiar to UK investors. A combination of controls by BRA and the projected growth in the local economy should ensure that there will be no serious imbalance between supply and demand, despite the fact that some 9m sq ft of new office development is being proposed by 1990. Although UK involvement in the Boston market has not been as great as in some other US cities, Norman Rourke identify a number of projects in or near Boston in which British firms have been involved. One of the more active has been Centros Properties, who have four projects in or around the city. These include a 50,000-sq ft downtown building at 176 Federal Street for refurbishment; a 160,000-sq ft office development in Canton Street, Westwood; a 90,000-sq ft warehouse project at Norwood; and the 170,000-sq ft Centros House office scheme on the Massachusetts Turnpike at Framingham. A significant amount of the Westwood development (shown here) has been prelet, with McDonald’s Corporation taking half of the top floor, amounting to some 31,670 sq ft, at a rent of around $21 a sq ft. The other half of the same floor is prelet to human resources consultants Costello Erdlen & Co. Copies of the report can be obtained from Norman Rourke & Partners at 63 Grosvenor Street, London W1X 9DA.