Lego to move HQ to Boston (Springfield, Weymouth: apartment, condo, how much)

[msRB311]

We already have lego land in somerville:

https://www.wcvb.com/article/lego-gr...oston/42636289

Not sure what to think of this. Part of me doesn't care, part of me wonder why Boston? This isn't an inexpensive area...moving this place and creating hundreds of jobs is nice but we don't seem to be lacking in the jobs area. Why so so many companies want to be in Boston still?

[BostonBornMassMade]

Wait but I was told the millionaire's tax was going to kill the business environment in MA...this cant be happening.

[masssachoicetts]

Im not sure if your question is serious or not.

But if it is, this is why:
-Boston has 2 of the best universities in the world and 40+ amazing institutions.
-Boston has access to the intellectual property a company needs to survive and keep competitive. They may have not had that in CT.
-Its a large dynamic city that has the innovation and access to auxiliary services they wouldnt get in suburban CT or south Georgia.

Yes it is expensive, nice things are expensive. Is Boston overpriced? Hell yes. The fact NJ is cheaper than Eastern MA, who provides about 1/3 the amount of amenities with less maintained towns than East MA is wild. But nonetheless, it has value that companies need to succeed. Thats why other cities like NYC, SF, Austin, LA, DC and Chicago have the vast majority of our industry leaders and Fortune 500 companies despite their COL concerns. Companies NEED to be there.

What now?
The city and region really need to substantially increase their housing supply. Its absolutely ridiculous how poor their output is. Additionally, the public transportation needs to be scaled appropriately. MA cannot keep growing if they don't have the adequate infrastructure to do so.

MA will continue to grow, despite its ups and downs. It will also continue to get even more expensive if town officials, planning boards and transportation agencies don't act fast enough/innovate further. People in MA show up to these town halls crying about how much they hate a new apartment or bus/rail route. Okay fine. Have fun when sitting in your 13 mile, 90 minute commute. Its like, the solution to X is Y .. but you say no to Y and X gets worse and you wonder why X got worse...? Make it make sense for the people in the back.

Best Solutions

• Unify the many different regional transportation systems in MA to ONE unified system. (Look at NJ Transit for example)
• Electrfiy and Double track the majority of the commuter rail for better frequencies.
• Properly up-zone lots near MBTA Stations.
• Make it easier (incentivize?) towns to build more TOD... MBTA Communities is good, but theres not enough 'incentive' and seems like rich towns have lots of loopholes.
• Congestion Pricing into Bostons core. Sorry

[lrfox]

Originally Posted by msRB311

We already have lego land in somerville:

https://www.wcvb.com/article/lego-gr...oston/42636289

Not sure what to think of this. Part of me doesn't care, part of me wonder why Boston? This isn't an inexpensive area...moving this place and creating hundreds of jobs is nice but we don't seem to be lacking in the jobs area. Why so so many companies want to be in Boston still?

Plenty of reasons. There's a large, skilled workforce here. Lego NA has a decades long partnership with MIT, so R&D connections are already local and in place. Lego Education is already here. There are several major IP firms with HQs or a large presence here. Boston and Logan Airport offer easier access to International HQ in Denmark than the current HQ in Enfield, CT (there are already direct flights to CPH on SAS). Metro Boston is a more appealing and easier draw for potential execs than Enfield. Boston isn't too far from the existing HQ which makes it less of a challenge to move the existing workforce. Any other alternative that checks all of those boxes (NYC, DC, etc.) is going to be similarly expensive if not more so.

It's a good get for Boston, but ultimately won't change a whole lot. I also wouldn't completely bank on it yet either - we're still seeing what the post-COVID work environment is going to look like and 2026 is still a ways off. Of those 750 or so employees, I wonder how many are going to need to actually be in Boston?

[msRB311]

yes, my question is serious. I get there are some good reasons to move Boston but kind of surprised at this one. I guess with the economy not being in a great position I'm kind of surprised by this one...but Lego must have money beyond anything I could imagine.

[id77]

Originally Posted by msRB311

We already have lego land in somerville:

https://www.wcvb.com/article/lego-gr...oston/42636289

Not sure what to think of this. Part of me doesn't care, part of me wonder why Boston? This isn't an inexpensive area...moving this place and creating hundreds of jobs is nice but we don't seem to be lacking in the jobs area. Why so so many companies want to be in Boston still?

Why not Boston? It's more accessible to/from Europe than Enfield and it's going to be easier to attract talent to the Boston area than the Springfield/Hartford area.

[msRB311]

Originally Posted by lrfox

Plenty of reasons. There's a large, skilled workforce here. Lego NA has a decades long partnership with MIT, so R&D connections are already local and in place. Lego Education is already here. There are several major IP firms with HQs or a large presence here. Boston and Logan Airport offer easier access to International HQ in Denmark than the current HQ in Enfield, CT (there are already direct flights to CPH on SAS). Metro Boston is a more appealing and easier draw for potential execs than Enfield. Boston isn't too far from the existing HQ which makes it less of a challenge to move the existing workforce. Any other alternative that checks all of those boxes (NYC, DC, etc.) is going to be similarly expensive if not more so.

It's a good get for Boston, but ultimately won't change a whole lot. I also wouldn't completely bank on it yet either - we're still seeing what the post-COVID work environment is going to look like and 2026 is still a ways off. Of those 750 or so employees, I wonder how many are going to need to actually be in Boston?

That's also something to wonder about. If the employees aren't even going to be in Boston due to remote work (it's never going away) why have the HQ here?

[massnative71]

Originally Posted by masssachoicetts

Im not sure if your question is serious or not.

But if it is, this is why:
-Boston has 2 of the best universities in the world and 40+ amazing institutions.
-Boston has access to the intellectual property a company needs to survive and keep competitive. They may have not had that in CT.
-Its a large dynamic city that has the innovation and access to auxiliary services they wouldnt get in suburban CT or south Georgia.

Yes it is expensive, nice things are expensive. Is Boston overpriced? Hell yes. The fact NJ is cheaper than Eastern MA, who provides about 1/3 the amount of amenities with less maintained towns than East MA is wild. But nonetheless, it has value that companies need to succeed. Thats why other cities like NYC, SF, Austin, LA, DC and Chicago have the vast majority of our industry leaders and Fortune 500 companies despite their COL concerns. Companies NEED to be there.

What now?
The city and region really need to substantially increase their housing supply. Its absolutely ridiculous how poor their output is. Additionally, the public transportation needs to be scaled appropriately. MA cannot keep growing if they don't have the adequate infrastructure to do so.

MA will continue to grow, despite its ups and downs. It will also continue to get even more expensive if town officials, planning boards and transportation agencies don't act fast enough/innovate further. People in MA show up to these town halls crying about how much they hate a new apartment or bus/rail route. Okay fine. Have fun when sitting in your 13 mile, 90 minute commute. Its like, the solution to X is Y .. but you say no to Y and X gets worse and you wonder why X got worse...? Make it make sense for the people in the back.

We've been through this all here a million times over. People are going to vote for their own selfish interests. I do. You do. It's human nature. For things to change and achieve any form of progress, the state needs to dramatically change the way it does business. Quit trying to shove undesirable development down towns' throats through blackmail and threats, and start giving actual INCENTIVES for towns to add housing supply that people actually WANT to live in. There is absolutely zero excuse for why the S Weymouth NAS is not covered with 10K+ new homes by now, other than incompetence and lack of leadership at the state level.

[massnative71]

Originally Posted by lrfox

Plenty of reasons. There's a large, skilled workforce here. Lego NA has a decades long partnership with MIT, so R&D connections are already local and in place. Lego Education is already here. There are several major IP firms with HQs or a large presence here. Boston and Logan Airport offer easier access to International HQ in Denmark than the current HQ in Enfield, CT (there are already direct flights to CPH on SAS). Metro Boston is a more appealing and easier draw for potential execs than Enfield. Boston isn't too far from the existing HQ which makes it less of a challenge to move the existing workforce. Any other alternative that checks all of those boxes (NYC, DC, etc.) is going to be similarly expensive if not more so.

It's a good get for Boston, but ultimately won't change a whole lot. I also wouldn't completely bank on it yet either - we're still seeing what the post-COVID work environment is going to look like and 2026 is still a ways off. Of those 750 or so employees, I wonder how many are going to need to actually be in Boston?

I can't imagine those existing employees jumping up and down about having to relocate to the Boston area, save for maybe the highest level executives that probably already have a condo in Back Bay or Seaport for all we know.

[masssachoicetts]

Originally Posted by massnative71

We've been through this all here a million times over. People are going to vote for their own selfish interests. I do. You do. It's human nature. For things to change and achieve any form of progress, the state needs to dramatically change the way it does business. Quit trying to shove undesirable development down towns' throats through blackmail and threats, and start giving actual INCENTIVES for towns to add housing supply that people actually WANT to live in. There is absolutely zero excuse for why the S Weymouth NAS is not covered with 10K+ new homes by now, other than incompetence and lack of leadership at the state level.

Again, sprawl is not sustainable. If you complain about traffic, don't propose more car centric development. Thousands and thousands of units have fallen through due to NIMBYism in Greater Boston. I see no other solution then smart cities and sustainable, well thought out, development.

We have the incentives, they vary by state... my point is, if you are worried about getting priced out of Greater Boston, then don't vote against your self interests and future.