New Balance Files Plan for HQ Complex in Blighted Boston Area

Rendering Courtesy Elkus Manfredi

Proposed New Balance headquarters building (left) will anchor a 14-acre complex that will include a 175-room hotel (center).

Athletic shoe manufacturer New Balance plans to build a 14-acre world headquarters complex featuring LEED-certified buildings in Boston's blighted Allston-Brighton area, located along the Massachusetts Turnpike.

The proposed complex includes at least four office buildings, restaurants, a 175-room hotel and a sports complex with a 200-meter track-and-field facility, according to a master plan filed with the Boston Redevelopment Authority on March 21. The new 250,000-sq-ft headquarters building, designed in the shape of a running shoe, will not exceed 130 ft in height, the plan states.

"As an Allston-Brighton business community member for 36 years, we support thoughtful development that benefits the community through job creation, public open spaces and overall infrastructure improvements,” New Balance says in a statement. The company's goal is to transform existing buildings and surface parking lots into an anchor of renewed activity along the Guest Street corridor.

Elkus Manfredi Architects and Howard/Stein Hudson Associates, both based in Boston, are the project designers. Both firms declined to comment on the project.

Construction is scheduled to begin no later than next spring with construction of one or more of the buildings and will progress in phases, according to New Balance. The complex will be situated at New Brighton Landing, where vacant office buildings will be razed, the plan states.

Filing the master plan is the first step in the planning process before holding community meetings and proceeding with a secondary filing with the city, says a spokeswoman for the firm. The cost of construction, project delivery method and selection of a general contractor has yet to be decided, she says.

Johanna Knapschaefer, ENR’s New England Special Correspondent, has been writing about trends in design and construction of buildings, bridges, tunnels and other infrastructure for more than a decade. She also profiles award-winning industry leaders and delves into broader construction issues such as workforce training, worker safety and health, climate change remediation and emerging offshore wind and tidal energy developments. Over the past two decades, her articles have appeared in Architectural Record, BusinessWeek, the Boston Globe, American Banker, Modern Metals, BusinessNH Magazine, Pittsburgh Magazine and many other publications. Johanna is fluent in Japanese, and taught English and academic writing in the Science and Engineering Department of Ritsumeikan University, Kyoto, while living in Japan for eight years.

When not writing, Johanna enjoys mountain climbing, singing and playing her Spanish guitar.

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