The Warren Group occupied this 2-story printing plant in Cambridge’s Kendall Square for over 30 years, starting in 1922. The Warren Group photo
During its 150-year history, Banker & Tradesman and its parent company, The Warren Group, occupied addresses in some of Massachusetts’ most significant commercial districts and steps from some of the 21st-century’s highest-profile development sites.
In 1922, The Warren Group acquired a recently-completed printing plant at 465 Main St. in Cambridge’s Kendall Square. The 2-story structure served as the home to its printing plant and offices until 1955, less than decade before the city of Cambridge’s urban renewal plan approved demolition of the 43-acre business district. The redevelopment area was designated and later dropped as a future headquarters of NASA in the 1960s, and Kendall Square began to emerge as a global life science hub in the 1990s.
Following a reorganization in 1955, The Warren Group relocated to a series of addresses in downtown Boston. One address was 117 Federal St. in the Financial District, currently the location of Boston’s biggest construction project: developer MP Boston’s $1.3 billion Winthrop Center office-condo tower.
The company’s addresses later included 89 Beach St. in Boston’s Leather District, steps from South Station and Houston developer Hines’ 1.1 million-square-foot office and condo tower currently being built on air rights above the commuter rail platforms. As Boston raised its national tourism profile during a year-long commemoration of America’s Bicentennial in 1976, The Warren Group relocated within the Leather District to 210 South St., a neo-classical 11-story building later converted into loft condos.
The Warren Group’s 1996 move across Fort Point Channel to 280 Summer St. presaged the South Boston waterfront’s revitalization following the completion of the Central Artery Tunnel project. A new Massachusetts Turnpike tunnel to Logan International Airport, including an exit ramp near Commonwealth Pier, attracted developer interest that resulted in dozens of office and residential towers on the acres of surface parking overlooking Boston Harbor.
Summer Street would serve as The Warren Group’s home until 2018, when the company moved to its current offices at 2 Corporation Way in Peabody.
One of The Warren Group’s many offices over the years sat at 117 Federal St., now the site of developer MP Boston’s 690-foot Winthrop Center office-condo tower, currently under construction. Image courtesy of MP Boston
