News
Launch at Hingham Shipyard
May 5, 2010
| How do you build a new $90M mixed-use complex during an awful recession, then lease it, and oh, btw, have a baby? For Samuels & Associates? Leslie Cohen, you have a great site, a super team, keep at it, and voila! (We left out the specifics on the baby.) Tenants are moving in and the grand opening is near. |
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| We snapped Samuels? Leslie, Mike Fitzpatrick and Robin Mosle guiding The Launch at Hingham Shipyard through its final phases of interior fit-ups and leasing. Last weekend, they opened Petco?s Unleashed and EMS (kayak school anyone?) On Memorial Day, surf?s up for Paul Wahlberg?s Alma Nove, Pizzapalooza, SuperCuts, and Typhoon. Around the 6/26 grand opening will follow Talbots and Boston Beerworks. Already open: Bed Bath & Beyond, Patriot Cinema, Old Navy, Fresh Market, Bodyscapes. Leslie expects the 210k SF of retail to be 88% open by fall and then will start leasing the 30k SF of offices: ?We created a great waterfront space, now people have to use it.? |
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| Liz Ryan and Graham Smith study some market data for the leasing effort. Since The Launch is a rare new South Shore waterfront complex, they expect the offices to also do well. Of course, it was the water that kept Samuels interested in the 27-acre parcel they?d been eyeing since ?99 for their largest suburban mixed-use development. Finally, in June ?06 they bought the site, 18 months later secured a construction loan and starting Sept. ?08 built and leased. When you're on the ocean, life is good. Leslie says the big challenge was ?the leverage shifted to favor the tenants.? Instead of delivering a plain box for tenants to build out, Leslie managed the construction of 20-30 customized interiors. |
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| The Launch, designed by Elkus Manfredi with construction docs by Jeff Pullman Architects, shares a 130-acre site with: the MBTA commuter boat to Rowe's Wharf, AvalonBay?s 235 completed apartments, parking, and Lennar?s 150-unit townhouse community where 21 homes are now under construction. Samuels? Launch will also include 94 condos. Having "shipyard" in the name is no gimmick: There actually was one that built hundreds of ships for the Navy during WW II. Its work is commemorated by a historic walking tour that circles the complex. |
