In the heart of Boston Landing, Brighton’s recently launched sports hub, lies New Balance’s new flagship store: a 6,566-square-foot space sitting adjacent to Warrior Ice Arena, the Boston Bruins practice facility. The store fosters an interactive, athletic environment in which locals are invited to engage with the brand as well as the surrounding amenities.

The 15-acre, $500 million Boston Landing project is one of the largest Boston has ever seen. It brings together not just sports facilities (the Celtics will soon be joining the Bruins at an adjacent new facility) but apartments, offices, retail space, lab space, a fitness center, a hotel and a commuter rail station. Members of this new community have all the amenities they need to live, work and play – all in one place.

The retail store, in particular, showcases New Balance’s tradition and history while also implementing modern touches. Shawmut Design and Construction, a $1.3 billion national construction management firm, worked closely with New Balance and Elkus Manfredi Architects from pre-construction through completion of the store, creating an innovative retail experience. It is an open, shared space with a Made.Boston demonstration (a shoe assembly area in which customers can watch limited edition shoes being made), putting the company’s manufacturing process on display. Shawmut managed the process that combined modern design with electronic and digital engagement.

Niall Black

Designed with an industrial-meets-contemporary feel, the flagship incorporates materials such as wood, concrete and metal to truly accentuate the merchandise. Additionally, the store includes numerous digital aspects such as a large running impact display, digital screens, a show assembly area, Customization Bars and a Strava NB Run Club live feed. The new flagship store represents a major turning point for New Balance and has created a fresh, modern atmosphere for its customers. Being in the midst of such a dynamic space, the flagship further solidifies the burgeoning sports community at Boston Landing.

In order to ensure the store’s timely and successful opening, JM Electrical, a leader in advanced automated building system installations, worked with Shawmut to create this cutting-edge retail environment. Pat O’Brien, the foreman on the job, as well as two electricians were dedicated to ensuring the quality of this project over a multi month period.

JM connected the store’s automation system with that of New Balance’s new headquarters (also at the Boston Landing site) and installed the HVAC controls – guaranteeing that the entire New Balance facility had a state-of-the-art energy controls system.

Greg Skalaski

JM also worked on the project with Dan White and his team at Navitas System Integration (NSI), a leading Boston-area building automation system provider. Together JM Electrical and NSI ensured that the LEED Gold rated facility had a fully integrated building automation system that would best optimize the development’s energy efficiency. NSI is a well-known presence in the regional high performance building market as well as being nationally recognized for its skills in design, programming, third-party integration and system commissioning. JM Electric and NSI’s collaborative approach has resulted in many successful projects.

With Boston Landing, the Allston-Brighton area has been revamped for local residents, workers and shoppers, turned into a thriving center for sports, commerce and quality of life. As each of the elements come together in the development, there has been a steady conversion of what once was a small, unassuming neighborhood into a community booming with economic and social activity. The New Balance store punctuates this momentum and it will help Boston Landing see significant growth – growth that is likely to reverberate throughout both Allston-Brighton and the Greater Boston area.

Niall Black is a project manager at JM Electrical with more than 25 years of experience in the field. He is an active member of the National Electrical Contractors Assoc., the Associated Subcontractors of Massachusetts and the Massachusetts Building Congress. Greg Skalaski is the vice president of the retail division at Shawmut Design and Construction. Skalaski has been with Shawmut for 18 years and has worked on flagship locations for Louis Vuitton, Cartier, Apple and Hublot. He was recently named to design:retail’s 40 under 40 list.