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Gensler
Oxford Properties Group’s first ground-up development project in Boston proposes a 340-foot-tall office tower to replace the 1950s-era parking garage and office building at 125 Lincoln St. that it acquired in 2017 for $39.5 million.
The 24-story, 625,000-square-foot building will have capacity for 3,000 employees, Oxford said in a filing with the Boston Planning and Development Agency.
Designed by architects Gensler, the tower would comply with state laws limiting shadows created on Boston Common, the Public Garden and Chinatown parks from new development, Oxford said.
Tenant perks will include multiple outdoor patios and balconies on the corners of the building, similar to the 31-story Gensler-designed office tower under construction at The Hub on Causeway. The outdoor spaces also will reduce wind conditions around the tower, by breaking up the facade and disrupting the currents, according to a wind study conducted by engineering firm RWDI.
Five levels of underground parking would contain 275 spaces. Oxford said it’s in negotiations with the Massachusetts Department of Transportation to acquire air rights for a 1,900-square-foot section of the site. Public realm improvements would include the redesign of 7,500 square feet of open space at the corner of Lincoln Street and the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway.
The proposal is subject to approval by the BPDA’s Article 80 large project review and needs variances from the zoning board of appeal for bulk, dimensional, design and use requirements, Oxford said.
Toronto-based Oxford is the $45-billion real estate arm of the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System and Boston’s second-largest commercial landlord, owning 4.5 million square feet in Boston and Cambridge, including the nearby 125 Summer St. office tower.
The proposal comes as commercial development in Boston is hitting all-time highs during the current real estate cycle, according to a recent report by brokerage Newmark Knight Frank.
Over 6 million square feet of office and lab space is under construction in Boston’s urban core, which equates to 6.6 percent of the existing office and lab inventory, and the highest proportion since 2005, researchers Jonathan Sullivan and Michael Malinconico wrote.
