After building out much of Channel Center in the Seaport for the past seven years, Rhode Island-based Gilbane decided to relo there from 12k SF in the Financial District. (Why should everyone else get to play in their sandbox?) At their party to celebrate their cool new office on Thursday, Boston manager J Michael Kennedy and regional manager Ryan Hutchins showed us around the 20k SF, multi-level digs. The brick-and-beam converted industrial building was more comfortable for the construction firm than a Class-B office building downtown, say the duo whose firm is doing large academic projects around the country and building a variety of properties here.

They're helping to build the $1.3B extension of the Green Line the four miles from Lechmere to Tufts University (above). In March '15, they expect to complete a 450k SF office/lab building on Binney Street for the Alexandria Center at Kendall Square. Gilbane shared office space on Linsky Way with architect Payette and the subs to facilitate communication. The result: They expect to finish about 20% ahead of schedule, Ryan says. The company has also been selected to manage construction of the sports building at New Balance’s complex at Brighton Landing; the entire complex will cost about $650M to build. It will also be working on renovating some of the historic student residences at Harvard.