PHOTO 1 CAPTION: John F. Palmieri, BRA director, with Cogito employees Jonathan Jackson (CTO), Professor Alexander Pentland (chief scientific advisor), Chuan Zhang (engineer) and Joshua Feast (CEO).

PHOTO 2 CAPTION: Picture, left to right, are Fahim Siddiqui, IntraLinks, EVP product development; John F. Palmieri, BRA director; and Andrew Damico, CEO, IntraLinks.

Boston Redevelopment Authority Director John F. Palmieri joined officials from IntraLinks last week to commemorate their new and expanded Boston office, further highlighting Boston's continued success as a vibrant center for business technology companies.
The company, formerly located on Bedford Street, just completed a move to the Schrafft Center in Charlestown, bringing with them 70 employees.
IntraLinks built out their new space to accommodate up to 150 staffers and plans on hiring additional employees in the future.
"I'm delighted that IntraLinks not only chose to stay in
Boston, but they found a new place where they can grow in Boston," Mayor
Thomas M. Menino said. "Their company provides a valuable service to
many of Boston's most important sectors."
IntraLinks is the world's leading virtual data-room provider, with more than 750,000 participants from more than 90,000 organizations worldwide using the company's secure online workspaces. With IntraLinks, businesses are better able to compete globally by accelerating essential business processes, simplifying communication and fostering rapid workflow.
IntraLinks' new Innovation Center is located in the annex at the Scrafft Center and contains approximately 20,000 square feet of space. The company completely retro-fitted the space and created an entirely new floor plan. Amenities include a ping pong table, designer espresso maker, Starbucks coffee machine and massage chair.
Following the event at IntraLinks, Director Palmieri went to visit the new home of Cogito Health Inc., a health technology company that worked with the city in order to relocate their operations from Cambridge. The company recently moved into 2,100 square feet of space in the main building at the Scrafft Center thanks to a $150,000 LifeTech Innovation Fund loan, which is administered through the Boston Local Development Corporation. The company also received site assistance from the Boston Redevelopment Authority's LifeTech staff. The company has added two new employees in the past four months.
"The City of Boston continues to be an attractive place for biotechnology and life sciences companies to locate," said Palmieri. "Through our LifeTech program, we continue to reach out to companies to let them know about all that we have to offer. We're eager to attract more companies like Cogito."
The LifeTech Innovation Fund targets early stage, pre-seed and seed companies that are in the process of being formed. Cogito is the first company to get an Innovation Fund loan. The loan can be used for the purchase of capital equipment, real estate costs, such as security deposits and build out, and, in some cases, refinancing debt.
Cogito Health is developing software to assist healthcare professionals in monitoring and controlling major clinical depression. Cogito Health shares their space with their affiliate company Dimagi, which runs international development projects in eight countries for health and education. Cogito Health's founding team includes Joshua Feast, chief executive officer; Jonathan Jackson, chief technology
officer; Dr. Vikram Kumar, medical affairs; Professor Alex Pentland,
chief scientific advisor; and Dr. Carl Marci, scientific advisor.

CAPTION: An artist’s rendering of the Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital facility proposed for Parcel 6 in the Navy Yard.

Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital is still planning a move to the Navy Yard, although the project has changed slightly from what was last proposed to the community in October of 2007.
According to David E. Storto, president of Spaulding Rehabilitation and Partners Continuing Care, an approximately 250,000 square-foot state of the art building, containing 120 in-patient beds and an in-patient pediatric department with between 10 and 15 beds, is currently planned for Parcel 6. This is a minor departure from the 300,000 square foot, 150-bed facility that was previously proposed for the site. The cost of the project will also likely remain close to the previous estimate of $230 million and will still be built according to “Green Design” principles, although Storto expects that the hospital could save money on construction materials and labor due to the current economic climate.
“The direction changed a little bit,” Storto said, adding that the facility will also include a 200-space, below-grade garage to serve the hospital’s patients and 800 on-site employees. The project will now be done in phases and funding for each phase will be released based on current market conditions, he said.
As for the project’s timeline, Storto said hospital officials in this next phase would take between nine and 12 months to finalize the design and for the permitting process. The Boston Redevelopment Authority and the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act office would then need to approve the project. Another round of funding would be released pending approvals in late 2009 to begin the construction phase, which would again be dependent on market conditions. Construction is expected to take approximately two and one-half years to complete.
“Spaulding has placed this as the highest priority for a new project,” Storto said.
At an October 2007 Charlestown Neighborhood Council Development Committee meeting, Judith Waterston, the acting president of Spaulding at the time, announced the hospital had undertaken a feasibility study to explore different design options in the face of a changing healthcare industry. Among the factors that Waterston cited were a decrease in discharge rates at rehabilitation hospitals and a drop in Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements.
Spaulding representatives are scheduled to appear at the next Charlestown Neighborhood Council meeting at the Knights of Columbus Hall, 75 West School St., on Tuesday, Feb. 3, at 7 p.m. to discuss the project.

PHOTO 1 CAPTION: The historic home at 47 Monument Square.

The Charlestown Neighborhood Council sponsored its second meeting last week regarding the proposed redevelopment of 47 Monument Square that would transform the historic one-family home into a two-family dwelling.
At that time, homeowner Gray MacLetchie and architect Steven Petitpas outlined the latest plans that incorporated several changes suggested by residents and Neighborhood Council representatives at the Nov. 24 CNC meeting. Among the changes were repositioning an addition facing Soley Street 5 feet back from the street and moving a rear addition back 2 feet from an abutter’s property. (The two additions as originally proposed would total 1,800 square feet, while the existing building is 3,500 square feet). In keeping with the historic flavor of the neighborhood, MacLetchie also agreed to construct a pitched roof at the rear of the building instead of a flat one and to use hinged doors at the rear patio, as opposed to sliding doors.
Boston Redevelopment Authority Planner Ted Schwartzberg said the agency had reviewed MacLetchie’s latest plans on Dec. 15, although new plantings for the site were not yet finalized.
MacLetchie added that the new plans had also received preliminary approval from the city’s Parks and Recreation Department, pending the plantings. Jim Conway of the Neighborhood Council requested that the Parks and Recreation Department send a letter to fellow CNC representative and meeting chair Bill Galvin once it had approved the proposal.
In response to Galvin’s concern that the plantings might obscure the view of the Bunker Hill Monument from Soley Street, MacLetchie agreed to lower the heights of plants facing the street.
MacLetchie also agreed that condominium documents would state that the roof of the new one-car garage wouldn’t be used as a roof deck.