Back in December, Mayor Marty Walsh addressed the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce where he outlined a handful of initiatives aimed at fostering and retaining tech and startup companies, thereby supporting them and helping them plant roots deeply in Boston's socioeconomic landscape.
One such initiative was a tax break for software company LogMeIn, which is using that standing to expand from its 110,000-square foot location at 320 Summer St. in Fort Point to the building right across the street at 333 Summer. It allows LogMeIn to save $2.5 million over its 13-year lease and pay for what the tax break document estimated to be $37.7 million in construction costs.
Expanding at this breakneck speed is fueled by pecuniary growth – back in July LogMeIn reported its Q2 earnings including $64.8 million in revenue, beating analyst expectations.
LogMeIn hopes to be moved into its now-under-construction 117,000-square foot space by year's end, but to help celebrate, the company hosted an art exhibit at its current office where it showcased work from Fort Point artists as part of a rebranding campaign called "Simply Possible."
The idea is for LogMeIn to celebrate the fact that the Fort Point neighborhood, a longtime haven for the creative-minded, welcomed the company with open arms. Now, given that LogMeIn's accelerated growth has it bursting at the seams, the company is looking to build upon its success in the same locale and wants to give back.
So it transformed 320 Summer into a an exhibition with dynamic pieces of art, interactive games and traditionally painted portraits – all sourced locally.
"We said, 'Here's the brand statement. Please create something in your style that says: Simply Possible,'" explained CMO Sean Ford of the rebranding. "This is a way for us to not just support the community, but to say we're so committed" to its continued success.
He also added that Boston won't be the only LogMeIn location to put this strategy into motion. Its offices spread across the globe (Wichita, San Francisco, London, Dublin, Sydney, Budapest, Szeged and Bangalore) will do the same.
SGA (Spagnolo Gisness & Associates, Inc.) is spearheading the construction of LogMeIn's new office, having achieved overwhelming success with the space at 320 Summer. The brick and beam building aptly reflects the history of fort point and meshes with other structures used formerly as factories and storage warehouses.
A similar concept will be employed across the street. The interior of the building will inform a spacious layout much as seen already at 320 Summer and bolster open communication and collaboration.
New amenities expected for inclusion at 333 Summer include a cafe, gym, meditation rooms, locker rooms, game room, recreation room, pantry, and patio. And that's just on one floor of the building's five.
The excitement emitted from LogMeIn brass at its art show for moving into the new space was palpable. The building itself was charred to its bones back in 2013 when an eight-alarm fire tore through it and neighboring 327 Summer. Damages amounted to about $2 million.
According to the Boston Globe it took 150 firefighters some nine hours to extinguish the blaze.
