First Tenant at Boston’s 121 Seaport Signs for 250 KSF

By Barbra Murray

121 Seaport

With the assistance of Cresa Boston, PTC will soon make its move from the suburbs to inner-city Boston. Tenant-only commercial real estate firm Cresa Boston orchestrated the tech company’s office space lease of 250,000 square feet at 121 Seaport, a 480,000-square-foot office tower under development by Skanska US in Boston’s central business district. 

PTC was the first office tenant to commit to 121 Seaport, which will take the shape of a glass-clad, three-dimensional ellipse designed by CBT Architects. In addition to premier office accommodations, the 17-story tower will feature 40,000 square feet of retail space on the first and second floors, as well as LEED Platinum certification and a location just across from a transit station.

“121 Seaport’s design, amenities, and location made the selection of our new global headquarters an easy one,” Eric Snow, senior vice president with PTC, said in a prepared statement.

PTC signed an 18.5-year lease with Skanska, which was represented in the transaction by commercial real estate services firm Newmark Knight Frank. PTC tapped Margulies Perruzzi Architects to spearhead the interior design of its new headquarters. The company will occupy the top nine floors of 121 Seaport upon leaving its current office in Needham, Mass., in early 2019, several months after 121 Seaport reaches completion.

BIG SPACES DWINDLE IN Boston

Adam Subber, managing principal, Cresa Boston

Cresa Boston, which won the contract to serve as PTC’s global partner across multiple service lines, was shopping around for space on PTC’s behalf at a time when downtown Boston was not exactly flush with large blocks of square footage. As noted in a third quarter report by Newmark Knight Frank, recent leases involving inbound and expanding office users has decreased the number of large contiguous availabilities in the CBD.

“The downtown market remains strong, given organic growth of TAMI companies and the continued demand from employers of choice for ‘urban core’ locations,” Adam Subber, managing principal at Cresa Boston, told Commercial Property Executive. “That said, savvy tenants can continue to develop leverage for their tenancy by being proactive and realistic in what can be achieved–and how quickly. Large users looking to make a move within or to downtown Boston in 2018 or 2019 may find that they need to put those plans on hold until 2020, given the uptake of new, big block supply.”

Cresa Boston and PTC had good timing, but the company wasn’t the only one to grab a large portion of square footage at 121 Seaport. On the heels of PTC’s lease agreement came a 150,000-square-foot commitment from Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc., leaving 121 Seaport with a full office-tenant roster.

Photos courtesy of Cresa Boston