GE Headquarters Project Now Before BRA

GE will shift headquarters operations to the Necco buildings in South Boston in 2018.

BOSTON—General Electric Co. has filed a Letter of Intent with the Boston Redevelopment Authority, officially beginning the approval process for its new headquarters in South Boston. The filing provides the first glimpse to what will be a three-building, more than 400,000-square-foot complex in Fort Point. Ann R. Klee, GE VP of global operations-environment health & safety, in the letter of intent filed on June 23 with the BRA, outlined the proposal. The plan calls for the rehabilitation of the 5 and 6 Necco Court buildings that are currently under a binding contract of sale with The Gillette Co. a subsidiary of Procter & Gamble. The proposal also calls for the construction of a new 12-story 293,000-square-foot office building. The site totals approximately 2.48 acres that is bounded by the Fort Point Channel to the West, Necco Court to the north, Necco Street to the east and property owned by Gillette to the south. The 5 and 6 Necco buildings total more than 100,000 square feet. Klee wrote that the GE headquarters project will entail the rehabilitation of the brick 5 and 6 Necco Court buildings along with the connection of the two buildings with a shared lobby featuring an atrium, winter garden and elevators. The new office building will be connected to the Necco Court properties via a pedestrian bridge and “GE Plaza” described as a new passageway that will run from Necco Street to the Fort Point Channel. A portion of the GE Plaza will be located beneath a “transparent canopy.” The public realm improvements will involve approximately 42,430 square feet of new publicly accessible open space and 15,100 square feet of covered open space. In addition, GE plans to undertake as of now unspecified improvements to the city’s Harborwalk along the Fort Point Channel. Proposed uses at the property, according to the filing, include: office, maker space, bistro-café, cafeteria, coffee bar, museum, convener space, community co-work lounge and laboratory. Klee in the Letter of Intent filing, notes, “The project will reflect both the project site’s industrial past and GE’s digital future. GE is committed to maintaining resiliency, sustainability and transparency as thematic pillars for the overall design of the project.” She adds, “A ‘vertical village’ a glass enclosed core of activity, will connect GE employees and visitors across floors and teams, and will celebrate GE’s commitment to transparency and collaboration.” Further details on GE’s headquarters project will likely be revealed once it files its Large Project Notification Form in the coming weeks or months. GE officials earlier this year released an economic impact study conducted by Oxford Analytic that calculated the company’s move will add 4,000 new jobs in the Boston area between temporary construction jobs and permanent GE employees and vendors. The study also indicates that GE in Boston will bring another $776 million in new real estate demand; $260 million in new income (GE salary and indirect); and $28 million to local vendors. GE’s new headquarters will house 800 GE employees; 200 from corporate leadership and 600 digital industrial product managers, designers and developers split between GE Digital, Current, Robotics and Life Sciences. The company also plans to establish a GE Digital Foundry for co-creation, incubation and product development with customers, startups and partners. GE currently employs nearly 5,000 workers across the State of Massachusetts in businesses including aviation, oil & gas and energy management. In 2014, GE moved its Life Sciences headquarters to Marlborough, MA and its energy services start-up, Current, is also headquartered in Boston.