Две ключевые офисные башни Бостона получили масштабную реконструкцию на 100 миллионов долларов

Two of downtown’s most prominent office buildings just got roughly $100 million makeovers to their lobbies and other areas, and one construction firm was behind both of them. North Reading-based Columbia recently completed a 1.5-year, 113,000-square-foot renovation project for DivcoWest’s One Lincoln tower, and will wrap up work on a similarly sized project at The Chiofaro Co.’s International Place two-tower complex later in September. For Columbia president Shaun Lover, these projects have been about improving the public areas and adding new amenities to attract employers, and employees, as they weigh post-pandemic work options. (For example, at International Place, Columbia built “The Aries Club” meant to be a private members’ club for tenants.) But they’ve also been about opening these fortresses to the broader community, making them more welcoming. International Place went up in the late 1980s and early 1990s, hard against what was the elevated Central Artery, while One Lincoln was known primarily as State Street’s headquarters for roughly two decades. Now, the owners of both properties want to better integrate them into the surrounding neighborhood. Lover notes that both buildings were built with car traffic in mind, not pedestrians. The recent lobby work reflects a change in mentality. “It’s a complete evolution,” Lover said. With so few new buildings going up in Boston currently, these projects also represent an important injection of private-sector capital into the city’s economy. “There’s one tower crane in Boston right now,” Lover said. “[But] there’s this $200 million in investments that put people to work but is also meant to attract tenants and also attract the neighborhood.” This is an installment of our weekly Bold Types column about the movers and shakers on Boston’s business scene. Jon Chesto can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him @jonchesto.