ASSIGNMENT
Downtown Crossing (DTX) is experiencing a renaissance that began in 2014 with the Millennium Tower project coming to life. 1 Milk Street was acquired by Midwood Investment & Development in 2015 to continue this renaissance with full scale redevelopment of an iconic late 19th Century building into a Class A boutique asset. With prominent retail exposure on the corner of Washington and Milk Streets and 30,000 SF of loft style voluminous office space above, 1 Milk is a one of a kind Boston gem. Boston Realty Advisors was hired in pre-development to work closely with ownership and Gensler on Base Building delivery, exterior and interior design elements, and branding.
APPROACH
1 Milk Street was Midwood’s first major project in Boston and was keen to make a statement. Boston Realty Advisors developed a comprehensive print and digital marketing campaign with its in-house design team highlighting the unique building features that squarely met the demand in the market for TAMI and co-working tenancy. Expecting to achieve top of market pricing, BRA and Midwood developed detailed renderings and spec sheets to communicate the above market standard delivery of the redevelopment.
BRA then implemented a 3 phase marketing process: 1) Create a BUZZ in the market with a multi-week email teaser campaign, unveiling the final renderings to the market once the construction fencing went up; 2) During redevelopment, direct to tenant prospecting ensued for full-building users both in market and out of market. BRA communicated 1 Milk Street to 25 national co-working providers and over 400 in market users generating 15 direct tenant tours of the building; 3) Base Building delivery began a strategic floor by floor lease up campaign, as timelines to occupancy compressed, and smaller tenants would yield higher rents per SF and more imminent Rent Commencement.
RESULT
Multiple full building LOI’s under negotiation prior to Base Building construction completion. Generated a competitive environment against 3 co-working users vying for the building.
In the 11th hour of negotiations pivoted the marketing/leasing campaign to multi-tenant in order to create the final sense of urgency to push the full building users to sign.
Secured WeWork on a 15-year lease for entire 30,000 SF of office within the 24 month redevelopment timeline.
Achieved the highest starting rent per SF by $4.00/SF amongst comparable buildings at the time.
