News
Cranes Soar Over Boston, Cambridge
March 15, 2012
| Elkus Manfredi founding principal David Manfredi, one of the busiest architects in town, is struck by the fact that four of his firm's big projects across asset classes have, or soon will start construction in Boston and Cambridge: ?It's remarkable.? (When the recession hit, the expression changed from "when pigs fly" to "I'll believe that when cranes fly.") | |
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| Here?s David, at the head of the table, with Janna Kauss, Chris Ingersoll, Chris Milne, and Dan Alvear (showing some spring spirit with a wonderful pastel shirt). They're discussing their core and shell design for the 190k SF office/lab building in Cambridge that Biogen Idec will occupy.Now in construction, it's due for completion July '13. The development value of four of David's projects in or nearing construction approaches $2B, according to our independent estimate. David says that the progress on these projects indicates that the recovery came sooner and more fully than expected, reflecting Boston's diverse user market. Another positive sign is that none are spec developments. The firm is also working with AvalonBay and W/S Development on their 1M SFproject at Seaport Square: approximately 750 rental apartments and retail. | |
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| Leonard Getz, Tom Mullen, Mark Sardegna, and Don Gulay are designing the 200k SF Phase I of 610 Main St in Cambridge for MIT Investment Management Co and its tenant, Pfizer—to be ready by the end of '13. One of its many sustainable features is a bris soleil to control heat gain. In Boston's Back Bay, another team is designing AvalonBay?s 186-unit multifamily tower going up at the Prudential Center, a location so valuable that the tower is on a 9,000 SF footprint. Due for completion next summer, it includes a new pedestrian stairway from Copley Square through the Pru to make the ?60s-era complex (that once sat isolated on a raised platform) more accessible. | |
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| A big group, you say; sure, they're working on the largest private construction project in the US, the 1.1M SF Vertex HQ complex at the Boston waterfront. In the trenches: Claudio Mare, Greg Buckingham, Don Gulay, Jeff Jacoby, Ariel Brain, David, Julie Chang, Linda MacLeod Fannon, Mark Sardegna, and Susanne Ackermann. Construction, which started in May, will wrap Q1 ?14. Elkus Manfredi designed one of the two buildings, Tsoi Kobus the other, and Elkus Manfredi is designing both interiors. The complex will have ground-floor retail, with labs and offices above. The project is unusual, David says, because it creates its own mixed-use environment. The pre-fabricated glass and metal fa ade (composed of panels) is more durable and weather resistant than traditional construction. |
