It’s not easy to create a new neighborhood in a dense, older city like Cambridge. But Urban Spaces CEO Paul Ognibene is doing just that. Next month, he’s starting construction on Phase 1 of a four-building complex in a district becoming known as The First Street Corridor.
Not so long ago, Urban Spaces assembled eight parcels between Kendall and Lechmere squares. Along this strip Paul, the keynote speaker at Bisnow’s The Future of Cambridge Real Estate event next week, is doing a mixed-use complex with offices, housing and retail.
So far, the amazing growth in Cambridge has concentrated on Kendall Square and Alewife. Now, what Paul calls the "Echo Boom" is filtering development into other locations like First Street, Lechmere and Porter Square. The projects are being fueled by the activity and employment generated by the city’s universities, life sciences industry and hospitals, Paul says. In the First Street Corridor, he and Michaels Development completed a 115-unit multifamily building about a year ago. In a few weeks, Urban Spaces will start building 121 First (rendering above), a $50M, 60k SF office with 10k SF of ground-floor retail.