Created by Boston architects CBT/Childs Bertman Tseckares, the elegant 111 Huntington Ave. tower certainly belies any harsh concept of security, while post 9/11 properties such as Boston’s 33 Arch St. and 600 Congress St. are also marrying style and safety as seamlessly as possible.
They brought down two very large structures, but the terrorists who attacked New York City’s World Trade Center have seemingly not shaken the foundation of the office building industry.
Despite indelible images of victims perishing in the twin towers on Sept. 11, 2001, initial fears that companies would shun office towers never materialized, as exemplified by research showing upper space continuing to outperform the market. According to a study by Meredith & Grew Oncor, for example, supply on the 20th floor and above in Boston’s Financial District and Back Bay has a vacancy rate of just 5.5 percent compared to 10.5 percent for space on lower levels. Rents have also fared better, even increasing slightly for premier high-rise floors when overall rates have remained flat.
Most observers spoken with recalled serious trepidation in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, but as veteran property manager Paul L. White offered in an interview last week, “people have very short memories.” Safety fears were quickly eclipsed by complaints over long lines entering buildings and the pass-through costs required to finance the stepped-up measures. “Sanity finally started to set in,” White said of the industry’s “knee-jerk reaction” to the terrorist attacks. As weeks became months and now years, tensions eased among tenants and property owners, keeping the impact on office space to a minimum. A frequent lecturer on property management, insurance and other commercial real estate issues, White said the experience of Boston is typical of cities he has visited such as Atlanta, Milwaukee and Kansas City, Kansas. “Tower space continues to rent at a premium just about everywhere,” he said.
Besides the passage of time, White said a calculation of the odds of a World Trade Center attack on one’s own building has likely contributed to making tenants comfortable occupying high-rises. Whatever the reason, NAI Hunneman Commercial Co. broker Robert Fitzgerald said security is rarely a sticking point when executing a lease these days. “I have heard no talk from tenants about going or not going to a building because of security (fears),” said Fitzgerald. “Frankly, I don’t think there is a very high importance put on it at all.”
Still, certain businesses do demand strict control over access, White and Fitzgerald stressed. In its recent decision to renew at the John Hancock Tower and sign a separate lease at Copley Place, Investors Bank & Trust weighed the security matter heavily, chief financial officer John N. Spinney Jr. relayed during a presentation on the deals earlier this month. The mindset was not borne of 9/11, however, but rather a caution that firms such as IBT or Fidelity Investments have held long term. When IBT moved to the Hancock Tower in the mid-1990s, the notoriously heavy security there was paramount in its decision, company officials agreed.
According to White, president of the South Florida chapter of the Institute of Real Estate Management, “tenants always drive the level of security in a building.” Besides the Hancock Tower, the Hub’s Federal Reserve Building and One Boston Place have strict procedures in place, and indications are that those policies are unlikely to change. Newer office buildings such as 111 Huntington Ave. in the Back Bay are incorporating modern safety elements in their design. Although thousands stream by in the enclosed retail mall, hotel and convention center, invigorating the mixed-use Prudential Center complex, visitors are monitored by guards and cameras when entering 111 Huntington Ave., then required to produce identification before proceeding to the office space itself.
Ringed by fencing and other unsightly barriers, the Hub’s Federal Reserve Building does resemble an armed camp of late, but Boston Society of Architects Executive Director Richard Fitzgerald said real estate professionals are trying to keep aesthetics from being compromised. Created by Boston architects CBT/Childs Bertman Tseckares, the elegant 111 Huntington Ave. tower certainly belies any harsh concept of security, while post 9/11 properties such as Boston’s 33 Arch St. and 600 Congress St. are also marrying style and safety as seamlessly as possible.
Richard Fitzgerald noted that architects have had to adapt to other mandates such as universal access or the green-building movement during the past decade. “I think the profession’s response has been pretty positive,” he said, adding that the latest challenge “is increasingly viewed as an opportunity to do better, more comprehensive design work Â… to make whatever (architects) are doing better and as secure as possible.
“It’s another consideration for architects, but they aren’t looking at it as if it were one more add-on, but more as an integral part of the design process,” Fitzgerald continued.
With the fourth anniversary of Sept. 11 approaching, office buildings in Boston appear to have adopted a varied approach to security. Some owners such as Equity Office Properties are generally less obstructive than owners of adjacent buildings, while 100 Federal St. has undergone among the most dramatic upgrades of security in the wake of 9/11. Once among the Financial District’s busiest lobbies, access has been cut back via a new identification system put in place by 100 Federal St.’s owners, the Bank of America.
“It’s a mixed bag,” property manager Dennis F. Callahan said of the security levels found throughout Boston office buildings. For the most part, however, the Meredith & Grew senior vice president and other industry veterans said there has been a major improvement in the quality of security personnel and protective systems now in place. “The days of the security guard just being a warm body are over,” said Callahan, praising the training now given to such personnel by firms such as Northeast Security, one of the area’s larger providers of such expertise.
As the founder of Miami-based Paul L. White & Assoc., White said he puts a big emphasis on training of both property managers and security, and also agreed that the arena is being taken more seriously by guard companies and landlords. Stopping an airplane from hitting a tower will never be possible by the property manager, and suicide bombers also present daunting challenges, White noted, but he did concur that the awareness factor has improved significantly for both building staff and tenants themselves. One minor benefit of 9/11, he said, is that petty theft in office towers is down, a trend seen locally by Callahan. “We’re clearly seeing fewer nuisance issues in the buildings,” he said, with office purse snatchings among the avocations largely lost in the new millennium.
Meanwhile, professional groups such as the Building Owners and Managers International and the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties are doing their part to educate managers and property owners about the terrorist threat and addressing building security. IREM, for example, is now producing its second edition of a book on building security. Entitled, “Spotlight on Security,” the thick tome gives insight on how to avoid security breaches and recognize potential threats. Among those giving that publication a thumbs up was White himself, who was asked to review the book on behalf of IREM.
“I thought it was great,” said White, whose own management experience of more than a quarter century included dealing with a multiple shooting incident at a Florida apartment property in early 2001 (see page B14). “I’d much rather learn from somebody else’s experience,” said White, adding that IREM offers numerous publications and programs to improve the professionalism of the industry. “That’s who we turn to for our training,” he said. “It is really a terrific resource for us.”
