Today we’d like to introduce you to Bill McQuillan.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Bill. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I initially got started in the business after I graduated from Babson College and got a job leasing retail space in shopping centers in Greater Boston for The Mugar Group. I really had no experience at all, but I learned as I went, and did that for about 3 years. I then went to work for a regional retail developer in Hartford for a year, before starting a new partnership in 1983 with my former boss at The Mugar Group, Paul Faraca. We did three deals together in six years; CityPlace at the State Transportation Building, Longwood Galleria at Children’s Hospital, and a specialty shopping center in Wilton, CT. It took a few fits and starts through the mid-90’s, I did a few other deals in Needham and on Soldiers Field Rd. in Brighton, before I got in a partnership with Ron Druker to develop the Harvard Pilgrim Headquarters in Wellesley, a late 1990’s deal that was pretty successful. A very big one was working in a joint venture with Steve Samuels on Fenway Triangle Trilogy. We opened that in 2006, but had started working on it seven years earlier. Being part of the early changes in the Fenway neighborhood was really something fantastic. Most recently, Boylston Properties opened the Marriott Residence Inn in Fenway, a Marriott Residence Inn in Watertown, the creative office/lab building LINX, and we’re currently working with The Wilder Companies on redeveloping The Arsenal Project in Watertown to become Arsenal Yards – Boston’s next great destination for living, shopping, working, and entertainment.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Absolutely not! We’ve had our fair share of road blocks along the way. Real estate development can be a very challenging industry and often times we are spending and risking a lot of dough, so there is little room for error. You’ve got to be careful and manage each deal as if it’s the most important deal to ever come across your desk. As anyone who’s ever bought a house knows, nothing is really ever final until the closing, and you never know what unexpected issues may arise during the process. The same goes for commercial real estate, just on a much larger scale.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Boylston Properties story. Tell us more about the business.
Boylston Properties is a real estate development company with experience in corporate office headquarters, retail, office, residential, research facilities, mixed use projects, and hospitality. Over the last 10 years, we’ve concentrated our efforts in Fenway and Watertown. We’ve been very lucky to be involved in such a mix of asset classes, sometimes I think, ‘I must have adult ADD!’ We actually have no pattern or formula to what we do. We are more organic in finding opportunities that become challenges, and then we just go for it. The thing I’m most proud of is that we build great looking projects, things that pass the test of not simply being profitable, but that we are also proud to have them improve the area they are in. We care plenty about design and are lucky to have worked with many terrific architects.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
Right now, we are working to redevelop Arsenal Yards at the East End of Watertown on the site of the original Watertown Arsenal, originally built in 1816. With this project, we’ll be retaining and showcasing the original structure of the buildings while we create an innovative all-in-one living, working, and playing destination for today’s community.
Contact Info:
- Address: 800 Boylston Street, Suite 1390 Boston 02199
- Website: www.boylstonproperties.com
- Phone: 617-262-4646
- Email: info@boylstonproperties.com
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