In a time when many organizations are still questioning what to do about office space, one Boston-based company has put their stake in the ground—literally. CarGurus, the most visited car shopping website in the US*, recently opened their new headquarters in Boston’s Back Bay. Spanning 10 floors and over 225,000sf, the project is one Structure Tone Boston was poised and ready to tackle.
“CarGurus is the anchor tenant of this brand-new office building that sits right on top of the Mass Pike, so it’s very visible as you head into and out of the city.” says Ryan Megenedy, Structure Tone project executive. “We were honored and excited to be part of such a notable project for Boston.”
PLANNING MAKES PERFECT
After being awarded the air rights to build over I-90 in 2013, the first such project in over 30 years in Boston, project developer Samuels & Associates spent the following years collaborating with the city and community to design and permit the base building.
Planning to fit out the CarGurus space began in 2019 while construction of the base building was still underway. When COVID hit and introduced a new way of work, the CarGurus team hit the pause button to retool the design with IA Interior Architects to match evolving styles of working.“The pause gave us time to reflect and adjust the use of space in light of our hybrid environment,” says John Hart, facilities manager at CarGurus. “We focused more on collaborative spaces, paired with a variety of meeting rooms and individual workspaces that can flex based on a person’s—or team’s—needs.”
The extra time also meant Structure Tone could take advantage of an extended preconstruction phase. “We essentially got two years of planning,” says Andrew Emden, Structure Tone area manager. “That gave us ample time to work really closely with the design team to determine the most effective and efficient strategies for the fit-out.”
One of those strategies included a unique approach to site management. Rather than assign superintendents by floor, the team divvied up oversight by trade type—one for drywall and ceilings, one for finishes, etc. “This approach made a big difference to how our team collaborated,” says Evan Stark, Structure Tone senior project manager. “It was really easy for the subs to know who their main contact was, no matter what floor they were on, and made communication very clear.”
The enhanced precon phase also helped the team prepare for possibly the project’s biggest focal feature and challenge: a central staircase that connects all 10 floors. “The scale of that staircase was an enormous undertaking and really drove the schedule of the entire project,” says Jim Custodio, Structure Tone senior account executive. “We launched a stair mobilization phase in March of 2023, a full five months before construction even began.”
RECYLING MADE EASY
How construction progressed also mattered to CarGurus and to Structure Tone. Targeting LEED Gold status, the project team included a construction waste site separation program to reduce the amount of construction waste sent to landfills. The team made it easy for everyone: they ordered extra waste hampers with signs on each one to indicate what goes in it. “The trades were fully onboard,” says Stark. “Everyone understood how to separate the debris, and we took care of getting it to recycling.”
According to Structure Tone sustainability manager Michael Orbank, the program was a huge success. “By the end of the project, our data shows that over half—51.31%—of all waste leaving the site was able to be site separated and sent directly to material recyclers.”
WITH A BOW ON TOP
The construction team’s crowning achievement, however, may be the pergola on the building’s roof—the literal and figurative “bow” on top. The structure has large steel beams and columns that had to be placed exactly atop the structural steel of the building. That required orchestrating a crane pick in one of Boston’s busiest neighborhoods—above a busy highway and train yard, near Fenway Park, and surrounded by several colleges. “The City gave us two possible weekends to make it work,” says Emden. “We were there from Friday night at midnight until late Saturday night to get it done. Our steel installer said it was the hardest thing he had ever worked on.”
When all was said and done, CarGurus was thrilled with the end result and held a formal ribbon cutting with Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey and Boston Mayor Michelle Wu. The entire Structure Tone team was there and have since continued to work on post-occupancy projects using Structure Tone’s Facilities Construction Services team and Day2+ platform.”
PROJECT DETAILS
Location: Boston, MA
Size: 225,000sf
Client: CarGurus
Architect: IA Interior Architects
Owner’s Rep: CBRE
Engineer: Vanderweil Engineers
Certification: LEED Gold
Sector: Commercial
“It is hard to put into words the excitement and joy felt by our community across the board,” says Frank Plati, CarGurus director of facility operations and real estate. “On top of that, the Structure Tone and IA project team was made up of great people with positive, can-do attitudes that made problem-solving fun, rewarding, and enjoyable. We were extremely fortunate to be a part of this team.”