New York developer Tishman Speyer’s decision to go spec with a 353,000-square-foot office development on Pier 4 in Boston’s Seaport District appears to be a good instinct.
Boston Consulting Group is considering the high-profile site for a new office hub as it assesses its real estate needs in Boston, according to real estate sources.
Office development in the Seaport District has successfully lured big corporate tenants out of the Financial District in recent years. Law firm Goodwin Procter LLP is moving from 53 State St. into the Fallon Co.’s brand-new 516,000-square-foot 100 Northern Ave. tower. Consultants PwC left Tishman Speyer’s 125 High St. last summer to become anchor tenant of the 17-story tower at 101 Seaport, which was recently acquired by a German real estate fund for $452 million.
Boston Consulting, ranked third on Forbes’ “Best Places to Work” listicle, has shown an affinity for signature new office space in New York. It’s moving this fall from midtown Manhattan to 193,295 square feet of tech-infused open-format space in a tower at the massive Hudson Yards development on the West Side.
BCG’s global headquarters is located at One Beacon St., and the company also occupies 78,488 square feet on the 30th through 32nd floors at 53 State St. in the Financial District. BCG signed an 11-year lease for that space in 2007.
Tishman Speyer acquired two development parcels at Pier 4 for $71 million in late 2014. It broke ground this spring on a 100-unit luxury condo tower and the 353,000-square-foot, 13-story office building, while demolishing the former Anthony’s Pier 4 restaurant building. Tishman is partnering with two Chinese insurance companies on the $500 million development, which will include a 1-acre public park at the end of the pier and a new section of the Boston Harborwalk.
The site has nearby competition from Skanska Commercial Development’s 450,000-square-foot 121 Seaport, an elliptical-shaped tower designed by CBT Architects which is also being built on spec.
BCG is still in the preliminary stages of its real estate search and looking at properties in the Seaport, downtown and Back Bay, according to an industry source. A Tishman Speyer spokesman declined to comment.
BCG spokespeople did not return phone calls seeking comment. But the company, which has over 12,000 employees at 85 offices in 48 countries, appears to be the latest corporate heavyweight looking for a distinctive workspace to give it an advantage in the recruiting race.
At Hudson Yards, BCG’s space will include an “immersion room” where employees sit surrounded by large video screens, and the current in-vogue mix of collaborative workspaces, private rooms and conference rooms.
