Biogen will move its headquarters to a new facility at 75 Broadway in MIT’s Kendall Common development, reports Greg Ryan and Hannah Green for the Boston Business Journal. “The lease is one of the most significant life sciences real estate transactions in Greater Boston,” they write.
Biogen will move its headquarters to MIT’s Kendall Common development in 2028, reports Catherine Carlock and Jonathan Saltzman for The Boston Globe. “Biogen has been a foundational presence in the Massachusetts life science ecosystem for close to half a century,” says Governor Maura Healey. “We are thrilled to see them begin a new era in our state.”
Prof. Sarah Williams speaks with Newsweek reporter Micah McCartney about how China’s construction boom lead to largely uninhabited developments dubbed “ghost cities”. Williams explains: “They needed a return on their investment, so they opened up new land and new loans for overleveraged real estate developers, so those developers could use these loans to pay back previous loans. The easy way to describe it is that it is a bit of a Ponzi scheme."
Diane Hoskins '79, a member of the MIT Corporation, has been named a CNBC Changemaker for her impact on the business world, reports Ian Thomas for CNBC. “Over her more than three-decade career at Gensler, she has risen up the firm’s ranks to now serve as its global co-chair alongside Andy Cohen, who Hoskins shares long-term strategy and day-to-day operations with and previously served as co-CEO with for nearly two decades,” writes Thomas. “Hoskins has also been at the center of the discussion around how workspace design intersects with employee performance and engagement, overseeing Gensler’s Workplace Survey and influencing how the industry at large designs offices and other spaces.”
Mayor Michelle Wu has named Prof. Kairos Shen as Boston’s new city planning chief, reports Kelly Garrity for Politico. “Shen previously served as city planner under the late Mayor Tom Menino, and touts more than two decades of experience at the Boston Redevelopment Authority on his resume,” explains Garrity.
Mayor Michelle Wu has named Prof. Kairos Shen as Boston’s new Chief of Planning, reports Boston Herald. “I’m thrilled to welcome Kairos into leadership of Boston’s Planning Department and all the critical functions shaping the built environment for affordability, equity, and resilience,” says Wu. “As a longtime friend and advisor, Kairos brings an unparalleled knowledge and expertise of this work and our communities.”
Prof. Kairos Shen has been named Boston’s new Chief of Planning, reports Jon Chesto for The Boston Globe. Shen, who previously served as Boston’s top city planner for two decades, “brings tremendous design expertise and a deep understanding of Boston’s distinct neighborhoods and factions,” writes Chesto. “I love the city and I spent many years serving it,” says Shen of his appointment. “I think being able to be more reflective and having experience outside of City Hall and looking at cities all over the world, I hope I can bring [a] kind of greater wisdom that I didn’t have when I left City Hall.”
WHDH reporter Polikseni Manxhari spotlights the Kendall Square “Rollerama,” an outdoor roller-skating rink created by MIT. The rink “offers free skate rentals, free lessons, live music, vendors, concessions and more,” explains Manxhari. “It’s not just a roller skating rink,” says Kathryn Brown, director of real estate at MIT’s Investment Management Company. “There’s a lot of people that come into this space and enjoy just the music and being outdoors.”
Rollerama, a pop-up roller skating rink at Kendall Common, has become a “corner of liveliness” this summer, providing the public with free fun and art in the form of a new mural by Massiel Grullon, reports Izzy Bryars for The Boston Globe. “We thought it could help people do something fun together, and start to give people a sense of what the Kendall Common build out will be like,” says Sarah Gallop, director of MIT’s Office of Government and Community Relations.
WBZ NewsRadio’s Emma Friedman visits Rollerama, a free, outdoor pop-up roller skating rink that’s “all about bringing the community together and having fun in the space.” Now open for the summer in Cambridge's Kendall Square, Friedman reports that Rollerama at Kendall Common was put together by MIT's real estate group to bring the community to the newly-acquired space on the corner of Broadway and Third Street. “It’s been such a hit,” exclaims Sarah Gallop, director of government and community relations. "Over the last decade, MIT's been focused on bringing increased vibrancy to Kendall Square."
Prof. Christopher Palmer joins Infotrak host Chris Witting to discuss his recent study that found logistical assistance increases the likelihood that low-income families will move to neighborhoods that offer better economic opportunity. Palmer and colleagues asked “how come more people with vouchers aren’t availing themselves of the opportunity to move to better neighborhoods? That was a prime motivation for our study.”
Prof. Nathaniel Hendren and Prof. Justin Steil speak with New York Times reporter Jason DeParle about the difficulty in building affordable housing in opportunity-rich neighborhoods. “A lot has changed in American life over the past 50 years, but the hostility to affordable housing has remained surprisingly durable,” Steil explains. “Where you grow up matters a great deal for shaping your life outcomes,” Hendren adds.
Prof. Albert Saiz speaks with Washington Post reporter Andrew Van Dam about the influence of geographical regions in politics. “High-amenity areas are more desirable and tend to attract the highly skilled,” says Saiz. “These metros tend to have harder land constraints to start with, which begets more expensive housing prices which, in turn, activate more NIMBY activism to protect that wealth.”
Prof. Carlo Ratti writes for USA Today about whether San Francisco is caught in a “doom loop,” a term that describes, “the city’s apparently unbreakable spiral of empty offices and unaffordable housing.” Ratti notes that “today’s crisis in the Bay Area could make room for new ideas to take hold faster than in other places. If the city seizes its moment, learning from its venture capital (VC) sector, San Francisco could also seize the future.”
Boston Globe reporter Macie Parker spotlights the new John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center in Kendall Square, the first building to open in MIT’s redevelopment of the 14-acre Volpe site that will ultimately include “research labs, retail, affordable housing, and open space, with the goal of not only encouraging innovation, but also enhancing the surrounding community.” Parker highlights the green technology included in the new Volpe Center: solar panels; triple-paned glass; electric vehicle charging stations; a rainwater reclamation and reuse system; and green and cool roof technology to lower energy use.