Today we celebrated the momentous topping off at Boston Arts Academy, the only public high school for visual and performing arts in the City of Boston. “It’s really a jewel in the crown of (Boston Public Schools) and the city itself” said Lee Michael Kennedy, President and CEO. Read more about the state-of-the-art school from the Boston Business Journal.

Lee Kennedy Co. has completed construction for the new 40,000-square-foot headquarters of the Meketa Investment Group, a global investment, consulting and advisory firm with $1.4 trillion in assets under advisement. Located at 80 University Avenue at the entrance to University Station in Westwood, the two-story office space was fit out in a new core and shell base building constructed by National Development.

“The new office better reflects Meketa’s innovative, modern and collaborative culture, while offering our employees convenient access to public transportation and other amenities. It was particularly gratifying to use an all-union workforce for the buildout, said Kellie Kane, Managing Principal and Chief Operating Officer of Meketa.

Designed by Fusion Design Consultants, the new global headquarters features a waterfall staircase that connects the reception area in the front lobby to the distinctive café/coffee bar on the second floor. The main café also serves as an informal meeting space for employees to collaborate or socialize and includes an outdoor patio as well as a fitness center. The office layout consists of private offices and workstations, but also includes conference and huddle rooms and open space designed to encourage impromptu exchanges of ideas. The private offices incorporate sliding glass doors to maximize space while allowing for more natural light to permeate the office area. Given the confidential nature of Meketa’s business, much attention was paid to acoustic privacy through design and construction, which incorporated double glazed glass for additional privacy at conference rooms and other key locations.

Owner’s Project Manager, JLLbrought the team on early during the base building construction process to help advise the builders of their fit-out plans as a way to reduce overall costs, such as leaving the stairwell area unfinished and the slab on grade open to accommodate underground electrical and plumbing. Due to the impact COVID has had on the corporate office market, Meketa opted to set aside 5,000 square feet of the 40,000 square foot building to offer as temporary sublease space. The team was able to quickly accommodate the change, giving Meketa flexibility while still hitting the targeted move -indate.

Although the pandemic delayed the start of the project due to the state-wide ban on construction, Lee Kennedy was able to hit the ground running on May 26^th, the day Governor Baker lifted the ban. During the shutdown, Lee Kennedy developed extensive COVID-19 safety protocols, and recorded zero cases during the course of the buildout, allowing the project to proceed as scheduled.

Lee Kennedy Co. has worked extensively in the suburban Route 128 corridor in recent years, including Analog Devices’ global headquarters expansion in Wilmington; construction of the new NBCUniversal regional headquarters in Needham that brings four local television stations – NBC 10 Boston, NBC Sports Boston, Telemundo Boston and New England Cable News – under one roof; and the gut renovation and fit-out of the Shark Ninja headquarters in Needham.

“While Lee Kennedy is often thought of as a ‘Boston builder’, we’ve significantly increased our presence in the suburban market with high profile clients on projects of all types and sizes.,” said Lee Michael Kennedy, President & CEO of Lee Kennedy Co. “As traffic congestion and now COVID has firms considering suburban locations or satellite offices, we hope to continue to expand our scope along Route 128 and beyond.”

Lee Kennedy Co. has completed 100 Hood Park Drive, a key component in the reimagining of the former H.P. Hood Dairy Plant into a life science/technology hub being developed by Catamount Management. The seven-story building delivers 54,000 square feet of new laboratory/R&D shell space, over 880 parking spaces, and 24,000 square feet of retail space. The garage also comes equipped with 50 electric vehicle charging stations and 54 bike storage spaces, laying the foundation to accommodate the region’s growing community of life science and technology tenants.

“The completion of 100 Hood Park Drive is a critical milestone in the transformation of Hood Park into a 21^st Century mixed use, live/work/play campus,” said Mark Rosenshein, partner at Trademark Partners, owner’s project manager for Hood Park. “The creation of the parking structure, which can be converted to office/lab space in the future, provides the parking capacity at Hood to enable the next phase of development of approved lab, office, and retail uses.”

 Situated on 20 acres in Charlestown with easy access to the MBTA Orange Line and Rt. 93, Hood Park will combine first-class office, lab and R&D space along with a hotel, luxury apartments, retail space and Hood Green, a one-acre greenspace that will serve as a public venue for outdoor events such as concerts, neighborhood festivals and farmer’s markets. Hood Park will also feature a series of pocket parks, gathering spaces and landscaped rooftop terraces designed to maximize greenspace on the campus.

Hood Park was master-planned by SMMA (Symmes Maini McKee Associates) and is being built in phases over the next decade under the guidance of Trademark Partners. Prior to the construction of 100 Hood Park Drive, Catamount developed 500, 510 and 570 Rutherford Ave., home to Indigo Ag, Inc., Cambridge College, Bunker Hill Community College, as well as data and technology firms.

In August of 2019, Lee Kennedy Co. completed construction of The Harvey, a six-story, 177-unit luxury apartment community (designed by CBT Architects) adjacent to 100 Hood Park Drive. Named for Harvey Perley Hood, founder of H.P. Hood and Sons, and designed to emulate the scale and proportion of the existing industrial structures along Rutherford Avenue, The Harvey includes a mix of studio, one- and two-bedroom units (including 23 affordable units) and a host of amenities.

The next major project will be 10 Stack Street (designed by Elkus Manfredi), a fully-permitted, 350,000 square foot Class-A lab and office building that will serve as the commercial anchor to Hood Park. In the meantime, Lee Kennedy Co. is building 6 Stack St., a single-story, 3,500 square foot campus amenity that will house space for 240 bicycles, restrooms and showers, a bike retail and repair space, and also features a rooftop terrace for social gatherings. Lee Kennedy is simultaneously constructing “The Pond”, an interactive water feature included in the new open space and plaza on Hood Park Drive, creating new entry experiences for the 500 and 510 Rutherford Ave. buildings.

Future plans for Hood Park include: 30 Stack Street, 157,400 square feet of office/lab space; 45 Stack Street, 6,050 square feet of retail space; 35 Supertest Street, 275,950 square feet of office and residential space, plus 100 parking spaces; 25 Supertest Street: 128,800 square feet of hotel space; and 15 Supertest Street: 12,000 square feet of retail space.

“As the recognized leader of the global life sciences industry, Greater Boston continues to expand beyond Kendall Square and Cambridge, and Hood Park is poised to be a key contributor to that expansion by providing first-class office and lab space on a sustainable urban campus,” said Lee Michael Kennedy, President & CEO of Lee Kennedy Co. “The completion of 100 Hood Park Drive and the success of The Harvey really lays the groundwork for Hood Park to become a premier mixed-use urban science and technology campus.”

Boston 25 News recently aired a story on Lee Kennedy’s project, the refurbishing Babson College’s World Globe. Click below to see the incredibly interesting process of hand painting the 25-ton structure.

Demolition is scheduled to be complete in March on the Boston Arts Academy project – just in time for the Boston Red Sox Home Opener on April 9, 2019. The Fenway project is Boston Public School’s first new school building project included in the $1 billion Phase II BuildBPS.

Lee Michael Kennedy is this year’s recipient of the Boston Business Journal’s Social Leadership Award. Read more about Lee’s passion for helping others below!

Lee Kennedy Company is pleased to announce our partnership with Analog Devices and Baker Design Group on ADI’s new headquarters expansion in Wilmington. The expansion will feature a newly-built 175,000-square-foot office and R&D building, a 50,000-square-foot community hub building and a 670-space parking garage, as well as renovation of ADI’s existing Wilmington facilities.