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CREW Boston gathered on March 14th at Sara Campbells headquarters for a night of networking, appetizers, drinks, and fashion as we welcome our new members and honor our Legacy Council members. The evening included a glimpse of spring fashion, shopping with amazing deals and of course networking. Members got a chance to get shopping advise from Sara Campbell herself as well as hear about her journey, successes and struggles. In the spirit of CREW Boston, many members offered her their gudiance.
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On March 5th at the Hyatt Regency Boston, a packed room heard from Thomas Glynn, CEO of Harvard Allston Land Company and Marika Reuling, Managing Director for Allston Initiatives at Harvard on Harvard’s ongoing Allston campus transformation. Harvard is more than just Cambridge, it is Allston too and larger at 360 acres compared to 240 in Cambridge. As other neighborhoods in Boston have begun to transform the opportunity within Allston has grown. Western Avenue, with the industrial area and the Allston Rail Yards provide prime land for development.
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Hannah Payne, Sustainability Coordinator with the City of Somerville, MA presented at CREW's Sustainability Committee on the City's Community Climate Change Plan on February 14, 2019. The comprehensive plan, Somerville Climate Forward, contains implementable key priority actions that aspire for Somerville to become a resilient and carbon neutral city by 2050.
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The Rising Leaders Group, with the help of Goodwin Procter LLP and Commonwealth Land Title National Commercial Services, hosted a night of well-being for CREW and WWIRE members. Keith Foley, a physical therapist from Joint Ventures, demonstrated exercises to help loosen muscles that can stiffen during the work day. Attendees joined Keith in stretching and positioning to reduce the effects of neck and back pain as well as carpel tunnel. Andy Kelley, the renowned Boston Buddha, spoke to the group about the importance of understanding the effects of stress, deterring distractions to focus on the task at hand, and the basics of meditation. Andy then taught a technique of using breath, silent sound, and mantra to use during meditation. From the nutritious smoothies and snacks, to the simple workplace exercises, to the calming meditation, the night left guests rejuvenated.
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The Mentor Program had a very successful kick off lunch at KeyBank Real Estate Capital. This year’s Program is comprised of 40 members, including Peer to Peer and Mentee to Mentor pairs. Hayley Suminski and Erin Channel, co-chairs of the Mentor Program, kicked off the lunch by welcoming the pairs and asking everyone to introduce themselves to the group. After introductions and learning about suggestions for a successful experience, the mentors and mentees broke out into pairs to formalize their match and discuss logistics, as well as, what the mentees are looking to accomplish to begin a productive and rewarding mentorship relationship.
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On January 17th at the Four Seasons Hotel in Boston, we heard from Ani Ajemian from Rockhill Management and Mike Morris from CanaDev discuss the food hall that will be opening up in Boston’s Finacial District called High Street Place. Located at 160 Federal and 100 High, a 19,000 square foot food hall will open in late summer 2019 with approximately 20 unique food and beverage vendors that will transform the area around the property.
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On December 11th, more than 50 CREW Boston members participated in the Holiday Gift and Craft Party to benefit Carolina Hill Shelter. CREW members purchased gifts for 17 families residing at Carolina Hill, who without CREW’s assistance would not have received gifts this holiday season. Additionally, CREW members generously donated gift cards at the November 27th luncheon which were distributed to the Moms and Dads at the shelter. CREW members also crafted hand-made ornaments for the families. New leggings and sweatpants were collected to help the Shelter cloth future residents who often arrive with only the clothes they are wearing. The outpouring of CREW’s generosity was overwhelming and truly appreciated by Carolina Hill. The Holiday Gift and Craft Party, hosted by the Community Involvement Committee, also provided a great networking opportunity to socialize with other CREW members, as well as enjoy pizza and wine.
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On November 27th at the Hyatt Regency Boston, the audience heard from Erin Harvey of NB Development Group and David Manfredi of Elkus Manfredi Architects discuss the latest on Boston Landing. A development that has created a neighborhood and reconnected Allston and Brighton back to Boston. They went over the several buildings starting with the HQ. This whole vision was started by Jim Davis, Owner and Chairman of New Balance and began to accelerate in 2011. The new headquarters of New Balance was inspired by one of New Balance’s manufacturing mill buildings in Lowell. With open space, full of daylight and reducing the number of floors, it was a gamechanger for the company. Also including a flagship retail center at ground level.
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To kick off our 2018-2019 series of brown bag lunches, the CREW Boston Housing and Community Development Committee, led by members Kimberly Martin-Epstein and Yanel de Angel discussed recovery efforts related to the devastating hurricanes in Puerto Rico. We were able to conference in Alex Blenkinsopp from Senator Elizabeth Warren’s office. He gave an overview of the PR situation and Senator Warren's efforts to provide aid, including a bill proposed to offer $146 billion dollars in aid to Puerto Rico. While not progressing legislatively, this bill changed the tenor of the conversation in Washington. This is the first time a US territory in economic crisis has concurrently been hit by a natural disaster.
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The 26 Gateway Cities in Massachusetts were formerly home to prosperous industries that offered residents a "gateway" to the American Dream. As jobs moved elsewhere and resources remained hard to come by, these midsize urban centers faced a number of challenges in maintaining their prosperity. Mass Housing has a longstanding commitment to the revitalization of Massachusetts' Gateway Cities and have committed both resources and grant money towards development. At our October luncheon, we took the conversation outside of Boston, to hear from city leadership about the real estate and development investment going on in some of the Commonwealth’s designated Gateway Cities
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Forty members of CREW Boston attended the CREW Network Convention in San Diego in October. More than 2,000 representatives from CREW Network’s 78 global chapters and 11,000+ strong membership joined in this annual meeting that brings together professionals from all disciplines involved with the ownership, management and financing of commercial real estate.
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In October, the CREW Boston Entrepreneur Exchange was enlightened by Judy Kalisker, Esq., Principal at Compliance Plus. Offering a range of solutions to "help employers do better," Judy and her team have been working with one of our Group members as an outsourced Human Resources Department. With staff sizes in our membership ranging from one to over 100, our Group has a range of needs and questions, and Judy was ready for all of us.
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CREW Boston hosted a panel of climate change experts and thinkers on how they are helping improve the city of Boston’s waterfront. Ellen Watts of Architerra started by reflecting on the most important real estate in the world, the Earth’s atmosphere. She shared how we need to use historical data, ideas from other countries, and how we should be thinking differently moving forward. It’s about not retreating from our cities due to the ever changing climate and increase in storms but to reinvent our cities and to better protect our cities and the environment. Additionally we heard from our panelist; Kathy Abbott from Boston Harbor Now, Kirk Bosma from Woods Hole Group and Sam Sleiman from Massport.
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The Development Project Management Group of CREW Boston hosted their first program of the year with a presentation on SHE VILLAGE in the Seaport. Ali Ribiero, Development Project Manager at WS Development, described how the 9 pre-fab modules were selected, installed and leased out to create SHE VILLAGE – a temporary shopping experience featuring women-owned businesses which are open through December. It is WS’ first venture into modular, pop-up retail. WS is planning to offer a different experience over the winter, and to have new retail shops installed for spring.
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Golfers at all levels joined CREW Boston for a clinic on a cool and windy night at Granite Links with views of the city to get back in the swing for the season. Granite Link Golf Pros helped goflers improve their swing and short game. After the clinic, networking continued at the Crossing Nines Patio & Bar located between the putting green and driving range.
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Save the date and join CREW Boston as we hear the Art of High-Impact Leadership from Alison Levine, team captain of the first American Women's Everest Expedition at our Annual Meeting and June Luncheon Program.