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.
Following that development was the Warrior Ice Arena, the home away from home for the Boston Bruins which has a connected lab building. Originally to be all office, it was converted to lab bringing the types of tenants who were being squeezed out of Cambridge, those first two tenants were Roche Diagnostics and Proteostasis. Following that was Bose who was looking for an urban office to help recruit younger talent.
Next came the Auerbach Center, which is the practice facility for the Boston Celtics. Just like the Bruins, they needed to update their facilities and attract the young talent and move into the city. On the second floor, Mass Innovations Labs will be moving in.
To create the mixed use feel, Lantera, a 295 unit residential building was built and several retail amenities came as well. The building is over 50% leased.
The bold stroke that came to this development was the privately funded commuter rail station. This helped with leases as well as connecting the community back to Boston.
The final pieces will be the record breaking indoor track and field, 175 key hotel and an office building.
We thank Erin and David for their time to discuss how this development has evolved over the past several years.