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At the March luncheon we heard a panel of industry leaders share their perspectives on how technology development and adoption is accelerating in the built environment. The panel was moderated by Tracey Hartford, VP of Client Services, Windover Construction, and panelists included Jit Kee Chin, EVP, Chief Data and Innovation Officer, Suffolk Construction, Leslie Cohen, COO and Head of Asset Management at Samuels and Associates, and Clelia Peters, a venture partner at Bain Capital Ventures, and formerly co-founded MetaProp, a property tech and increasingly construction tech venture.
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On March 11th CREW Boston enjoyed a virtual tour of Bulfinch’s Cambridge Discovery Park, a 27-acre first-class lab and office campus in Alewife’s life science cluster in Cambridge, MA. We heard from project team panelists Mike Wilcox, Director of Leasing at Bulfinch; Molly Heath, Managing Director at JLL; and Eric Weyant, Principal at Stantec on the history of the Arthur D. Little site and its revitalization into a world-class campus, providing a desirable destination for office and lab tenants while including the restoration and preservation of neighboring wetlands and wooded areas.
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At February’s luncheon, Greg Karczewski (President at Union Square Station Associates (US2), Sunayana Thomas (Senior Economic Development Planner at the City of Somerville, and Thanos Matthaie (Associate at DLA Piper LLP (US) presented on both the history and the future revitalization of Somerville’s Union Square.
Greg Karczewski in partnership with development partners, USAA Real Estate and Magellan Development Group were selected back in 2014 by the City of Sommerville to be the Master Developer to lead this 2.4 million SF transit-oriented development and transform Somerville into Boston’s next innovation ecosystem through a concentration of life science and technology companies. The mission was to get companies to start, grow, and stay in Sommerville. After the streetcar went away and no public connectivity existed in and out of Somerville the city found itself a bit lost. The approval and addition of two new green line train stops strategically located on each side of the square was the real catalyst for fostering future development and desirability for companies to make Somerville their headquarters. After years of community outreach, thoughtful planning, and curating the right public/private partnerships , Union Square is prime to become Boston’s next major epi-center for biotech, lab, and life science office space.
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On February 3, 2020, members attended the Public Strategies Committee’s virtual breakfast to hear from an esteemed panel of CREW Boston members that are active in their local government. The panelists described how they first became involved in local government, which included stories of connections made through youth sports programs and neighborly conversations while shoveling snow. Each of the panelists described the benefits of participation in local government, including valuable experience with public speaking, more active involvement in their community as a whole and have a voice in what/how things are accomplished, and a chance to give back to the communities they care about. The panelists also provided some practical advice for CREW members who need to interact with local government, stressing the importance of understanding and respecting the role of local government staff, and being mindful that communications over all platforms are part of the public record. The conversation included a great discussion with the audience, culminating with panel members articulating the powerful role that CREW Boston has played in their careers
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At January’s luncheon, Kerry Dowling (Senior Vice President of Leasing), Bridget Beckeman (Managing Director of Retail Strategies), and Maria Salvatore (Leasing Consultant) of Wilder Companies presented the most recent update of the Arsenal Yards development in Watertown. The “urban edge” location of this million square foot development at the corner of Cambridge and Boston is a significant reason for the success of leasing the project’s 250,000 SF of retail, 200,000 SF of life science office, 300 apartments, and 150-room hotel. A 10-minute drive catchment area with 250,000 residents earning an average household income of $130,000 and an average home value of $741,000 has easily captured the interest of retail and office tenants. Also key to the success of leasing has been the design of an urban-like density along the promise of free parking.
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The Sustainability Group was excited and pleased to present long-time CREW Boston member Kimberly Vermeer to speak about her new book, Blueprint for Greening Affordable Housing, Revised Edition. In the book, she and co-author Walker Wells present a comprehensive resource on how green building principles can be incorporated into affordable housing design, construction, and operation. This fully revised edition captures the rapid evolution of green building practices and makes a compelling case for integrating green building into affordable housing. They argue that cities must embrace green affordable housing in the face of climate change and the affordable housing crisis.
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The 2021 Mentor Program had a successful kickoff but this time it was held virtually. This year’s program includes 22 participants from various roles, industries and experiences. Melissa Noone, one of the co-chairs of the Mentor Program, kicked off the event by welcoming the pairs and asking everyone to introduce themselves to the group and why they wanted to apply to the program.
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Michelle Lambert and her colleague, Kristen Fritsch, Sustainability Coordinator at Elkus Manfredi Architects, gave us an overview of why measuring embodied carbon is important and how it is calculated. Embodied carbon measures all the energy to produce, transport and build with specific building materials. This hidden source of carbon has a significant impact (estimated to be as much as 11 percent of total global carbon emissions) in addition to the “operational carbon” which is more universally understood and measured. It is important to reduce embodied carbon as much as possible as it is put into the earth’s atmosphere when the building is built and it takes 80-100 years for it to be sequestered. Operational carbon is not added to the environment all at once, but over time as it is used.
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Members joined us for our virtual Holiday Crafting Party as we celebrated the season while networking and passing along some holiday cheer to the residents of the Elizabeth Stone House.
Members were able to catch up with each other while “crafting” a welcome card that will accompany a small home warming gift to the residents moving into the Elizabeth Stone House’s new building. The finished cards will be sent to 32 residents as they walk into their new home this January included with a home warming gift, put together by a few CREW Boston members. This annual CREW Boston tradition is a wonderful way to help brighten the spirits of children and families in need while enjoying a great networking event!
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In December 2020, CREW Boston hosted a special holiday luncheon featuring Cara Brookins, author of Rise: How a House Built a Family. In 2007, Cara was at a personal crossroads. Having survived two, abusive relationships, Cara wanted to give meaning and purpose to her own life and the life of her four children. To do that, she landed on a big idea: she and her four children would build their own, forever home where they could put down new roots and start a new chapter for their family. Cara and her children had no construction experience. However, relying on YouTube tutorials and their own grit and scrappy determination, they successfully built the home of their collective dreams in a mere nine months. More importantly, Cara’s children had learned that they could figure out how to do incredible things.
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At November’s luncheon, Ben Breslau, Chief Research Officer, Americas of JLL shared his thoughts with CREW Boston on a spectrum of potential outcomes for 2021. Some of his observations included:
Covid-19/Pandemic has been the greatest accelerator of trends – e-commerce was growing, but the pandemic has made the switch to technology quicker. The Boston area is a knowledge/innovation economy, positioning our region well for recovery. Hospitality and retail have been impaired by the pandemic and will take longer to recover. Flex spaces (WeWork) may have been impacted during pandemic, but they will likely remain an important part of how we will continue to work in the future. Business travel has been drastically impacted and will take time to recover. Our work from home experience has underscored the value of face-to-face interactions and will no doubt remain a critical part of relationships in the future.
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Proving that Friday the 13th doesn’t have to be unlucky, CREW Boston’s CREW Network Committee hosted an engagingCoffee with CREW with special guests Holly Neber of AEI and Dianne Crocker of LightBox on November 13th. Leveraging CREW Network has been invaluable to both Holly and Dianne on their career paths, providing them with connections well outside of their chapters, opportunities to hone their leadership skills and the courage to embrace new challenges.
As an active member of East Bay CREW and Immediate Past President of CREW Network and CREW Network Board of Directors, Holly spoke to the value of joining CREW Network Committees (e.g., Audit and Finance, Communications/ Editorial, Industry Research, Nominating, Member Education, Recognition, Scholarship Selection, and Diversity Equity and Inclusion Task Force), assuming leadership positions within the Network, as well as registering to participate in the next Leadership Summit in February 2021 (virtual event). Dianne, an active CREW Boston member and a past member of the CREW Network Member Education Committee, stressed the value of having a strong CREWBiz Profile, leveraging the incredible power of CREW Network for reaching experts on a particular topic of interest, accessing the CREWBiz community to give and get business (https://crewbiz.crewnetwork.org/), and being proactive about engaging with members across the Network in virtually every niche of commercial real estate
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Members of the Entrepreneur Exchange Group aren’t strangers to chaos: many of us started our companies during layoffs or recessions. But what do we do in the face of global pandemic? Keeping teams engaged and accountable seems to be the biggest challenge of the COVID era. Several members are having all-staff meetings every day but Friday to keep everyone connected, adding weekly Project team meetings with their clients for a 15-minute check-in. Many have expanded their use of technology, starting, or joining podcasts, and upping their social media games. Make sure you’re following your fellow CREW members on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, and your favorite podcast service! Let’s not forget the self-care aspect of the “new normal.” With increased screen time and the lack of social interaction, many have found that scheduling a mental health break in the middle of the day for a walk, yoga, pilates, or simply lunch away from their desks refreshes them for the rest of the day.
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Abby Roberts and Caroline Murry from Turner Construction shared both an overview and details of Turner Construction’s company-wide commitment to sustainability. Turner has committed to reduce CO2 emissions and water consumption on job sites by 50% by 2030. There is a Chief Sustainability Officer as a member of Tuner’s Executive team with sustainability representatives in all of Turner’s 50+ offices. There are numerous committees allowing opportunities for employees with varying backgrounds to get involved.
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The DPM Group and the Entrepreneurs Exchange hosted a presentation by Cathy Burgess a Vice President and Financial Advisor with Wells Fargo. Cathy presented information about what you can do now to prepare for your retirement. The presentation began with Cathy asking everyone to write down our three greatest hopes and our three greatest worries about retirement. She also asked us to focus on what we actually WANT and not what others want; the only person who cares about your retirement is you. On average, women live longer than men and are more likely to be the care givers – of children and of their parents. This requires a lot of preparation: educate yourself, develop a specific plan, have important conversations with your friends and family and use a check list to track your progress.
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Each year, CREW Boston is joined by the Greater Boston real estate community to celebrate the professional achievements and public service contributions of some of our most accomplished members.