Redevelopment of the old Boston Globe HQ could wrap this summer

The conversion of the Boston Globe’s former Dorchester headquarters—seen here in the Oscar-winning movie Spotlight—could wrap as soon as this July, according to lead developer Nordblom.

Work on the 16.5-acre site off Morrissey Boulevard, near the JFK/Umass and Savin Hill Red Line stops, has been underway since late 2018. It’s supposed to leave behind an approximately 695,000-square-foot development with some 360,000 square feet of office space and 300,000 square feet of flex-slash-light industrial-slash-lab space.

A craft brewery and a beer garden, as well as parking for 868 automobiles and 200 bikes, are part of the deal too.

There is one big question mark hanging over the project, however: tenants. Nordblom is currently seeking to fill not only the craft brewery space with a brewing company but the office-lab space as well.

What sorts of firms does the developer want? A clue is in the project’s name: Nordblom long ago dubbed it the BEAT—as in the Boston Exchange for Accelerated Technology (it’s also an homage to the Globe’s reporters, who decamped for new offices in downtown Boston in mid-2017, leaving behind the newspaper’s home of nearly six decades).

A Nordblom executive said during a recent community meeting that 3D printing companies, a medical robotics lab, and architecture firms would be welcome additions, per the Dot Reporter. Basically, the developer has positioned the BEAT to compete with other tech-life sciences hubs such as Cambridge’s almighty Kendall Square and the emerging Exchange South End a couple of neighborhoods over. Stay tuned.