Griffith Properties celebrates HarborSouth Tower redevelopment

Griffith Properties celebrated the reopening of the newly redeveloped HarborSouth Tower with an official ribbon cutting ceremony.  HarborSouth Tower has been renovated, to become essentially a new building, with environmental upgrades including indoor air quality and use of natural light compared to office standards of even just a few years ago.  According to independent research by the Calif. Public Utilities Commission and the Calif. Energy Commission, building designs that incorporate superior indoor air quality, daylighting and quality views can improve employee productivity by having more outside air circulate through the workplace and by ensuring that natural daylight floods the floor resulting in less employee absenteeism. HarborSouth Tower is delivering 40% more fresh air than required by building code. Griffith Properties is pursuing a LEED Core & Shell Certification for HarborSouth -- a higher standard that is typically reserved for new construction -- in lieu of the LEED EB rating for Existing Buildings, due to the nature of the redevelopment of the 25-year-old building. Some other sustainable upgrades include drought tolerant planting to reduce irrigation by 50%, energy performance that is 40% better than buildings of comparable age, and preferred parking for fuel-efficient cars and carpoolers. The ribbon-cutting ceremony featured a speaking program that included Ian Bowles, secretary of the state's Executive Office of Energy and Environmental "We are happy to celebrate the completion of HarborSouth, welcome MFS as our first tenant and are extremely excited about the sustainability milestone that this project is pursuing," said Brainard, principal at Griffith Properties. "I congratulate Griffith Properties on the opening of this innovative LEED-certified building, with features that will significantly reduce energy consumption while encouraging building employees to make use of alternative transportation, carpools and fuel efficient cars," said Bowles. "This is exactly the kind of economic development that the City of Quincy will continue to aggressively pursue.  Griffith Properties and MFS have shown a tremendous commitment with this investment that will include hundreds of jobs, much needed tax growth, and a wonderfully renovated Green building at the gateway of our city.  I am grateful for their confidence in Quincy, and believe it will be the first of many similar projects in the near future," said mayor Thomas Koch, mayor of Quincy. HarborSouth Tower was acquired by Griffith in 2007. The redevelopment team included contractor Suffolk Construction, architect ADD Inc, and RDK Engineers, the MEP systems engineer. The team of Andy Majewski, Nat Kessler and Ogden White at CB Richard Ellis serve as the exclusive leasing agent. The tower is adjacent to the North Quincy T Station. and is a 15 minute commute into South Station. HarborSouth Tower is also the largest block of existing available space on an MBTA subway route outside of Boston. Nearby amenities include hotels, restaurants and banks and employees at HarborSouth Tower also enjoy exceptional views of the Boston Harbor and skyline. About Griffith Properties Griffith Properties LLC was founded in 2002 by J. Brad Griffith. The company invests in enhanced value-added office and R&D assets in the markets between Boston and Washington, DC.  Griffith Properties has raised two blind-pool, commingled funds to pursue real estate investments in partnership with institutional investors. Recent acquisitions include: Ballardvale Office Park, a 550,000 sf office park in Wilmington, MA; One East Pratt Street, a 340,000 sf office property in downtown Baltimore, MD and Burlington Woods Office Park, a three-building 285,000 sf office park on Route 128 in Burlington MA. About Urdang: Urdang manages both private equity investments and portfolios of real estate securities, primarily publicly traded real estate investment trusts. Urdang is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bank of New York Mellon.