Indeed, the response in Boston was one of shock and horror. His proposition was to find a new meaning for the square, seizing the opportunity of the Hancock company’s need for office space to propose that “Copley Square should have its own tower.”Īs Cobb’s newest tower-the Four Seasons Hotel & Private Residences, One Dalton Street-nears completion, it’s time to hear in his own words how its bold precursor, the Hancock, came to be more than 40 years ago: In the late 1960s and early ’70s, the idealized image of the square had suffered from the intrusion of commercialism, and had, as Cobb observed, lost its meaning. It can only be understood as a response to the setting, Copley Square, where the tower stands adjacent to H. In this excerpt, Cobb describes the Hancock’s apparent adherence to the rules of typical office buildings yet acknowledges that the form of the “notched rhomboid” deviates from such expected patterns. The story of his best-known building, Boston’s John Hancock Tower (now 200 Clarendon), follows a dramatic arc from the controversies of its public review and construction to its recognition as a beloved icon of the city. To have them return, well, it’s huge.After seven decades in practice, Henry Cobb has published his first collection of essays, interviews, lectures, and projects: Henry N. Hancock’s homecoming is a huge statement for the neighborhood, said Meg Mainzer-Cohen, president of the Back Bay Association, a business group. Meanwhile, DraftKings and WeWork have signed sizable leases for Boylston Street properties in recent months, while the online retailer Wayfair is close to finalizing plans for an enormous expansion. The developer also owns the former Hancock Tower, at 200 Clarendon St., and has largely refilled empty offices there after several big tenants, including John Hancock, moved out over the past decade or so. Several blocks west, Boston Properties recently opened a 17-story building on Boylston Street that’s part of the Prudential complex. In addition to building the new Hancock tower, Boston Properties is planning to erect a massive complex above the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s Back Bay Station, between Clarendon and Dartmouth streets. The Back Bay has also been experiencing a wave of development and corporate expansions lately, since several prominent employers decamped for the Financial District. “That will not remain a vacant building for very long,” Carroll said. “You’re seeing companies really double down to make that happen.”Īs for the Congress Street building that Hancock is leaving, Carroll said the company should have no problem finding takers, because many larger companies - such as Amazon - are looking to expand in the Seaport. “There’s value in having your workforce in one location,” Carroll said. Returning to the Back Bay makes sense on two levels, said Brendan Carroll, director of intelligence at the real estate firm Perry Brokerage: It allows Hancock to put all of its Boston employees in one place and lets the company sell or lease a valuable building in a hot real estate market.Ī number of blue-chip employers, including Vertex Pharmaceuticals,īoston Consulting Group, and Akamai Technologies, have consolidated Boston-area operations under one roof or are in the process of doing so, Carroll said - despite technology that makes it easier to work remotely. Hancock’s parent, Manulife Financial Corp., owns the 14-story Congress Street building, which sits on land leased from the Massachusetts Port Authority, and has the right to sell or lease out the structure. The company hasn’t decided whether it will sell or lease out the 465,000-square-footīuilding in the Seaport that it’s leaving. Harrison also noted that the move enables Hancock to save on real estate costs. In her memo, Harrison told employees that Hancock is continuing to work on plans for the tower, but did not elaborate. Several Boston-area real estate professionals said that if Hancock is rooting itself in the Back Bay, the proposed building would provide the logical next place to grow.
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