Pollack says that corporations, as well as real estate developers, are following EDENS' lead and are now focusing on food as a critical amenity that will attract Millennials to their businesses or their properties.

“Food has become the anchor to the experience economy. It is integral to almost all new real estate developments from individual buildings to new communities and malls,” Pollack relates.

He says that although there is a definite trend toward online retail shopping, bricks and mortar retail is still working in many places, especially in urban centers, where Millennials view shopping as a social experience.

“That social aspect of food becoming an integral part of that (live-work experience) is now more important and a lot of real estate developers are really recognizing that,” Pollack says.

He adds that companies, in their quest for talented Millennials, are not only leasing space in vibrant, urban centers where their workers have plenty of options for healthy dining and entertainment, but are also designing new trendy dining areas for their workers as well.

Pollack believes that a new trend in office design is to accommodate those who like to brown bag their meals. “We are starting to see in some places where not only do you provide a refrigerator or microwave for people to be able to make their lunch at home and bring it in with then, but actually I think we are going to start to see more and more cases where people can actually prepare their own food at some level within their workplace.”

Food has become a key component of Related Beal's Congress Square project in Boston. Pollack says that Arrowstreet was charged by Related Beal to reinvigorate the two-block section around the old Fidelity Investment headquarters in Downtown Boston. The site is one block from the lively Quincy Market and one block from the equally vibrant Post Office Square.

“Yet the two blocks on Congress Street, which is across from our offices, are quite dead because Fidelity was so inward looking in the way they used those buildings,” he notes. “It has really created this rather strange disconnect for two really active places that are so close together from an urban planning perspective.”

A key facet of the planning and marketing of the mixed-use redevelopment of the Congress Square project is to turn the bottom of the old Fidelity buildings into “an active retail and in particular food destination that really enlivens the street” for residents, business and hotel guests in the area.

He says that an alley behind the property features old-fashioned spiral fire escapes that will help create this unique food-retail environment for the area. The alley will feature cafes, restaurants and outdoor seating for patrons. The goal is to use the food concept as an identity for what is now just a back alley.

“From an urban planning perspective what it does is it starts to re-knit together that Quincy Market, Faneuil Hall areas with Post Office Square and extend that lifestyle experience through a part of the old Financial District in a way that hasn't existed before,” he adds.

An example of where food retail reinvigorated a neighborhood was MIT's Tech Square in Kendall Square in Cambridge, MA. Arrowstreet was hired by MIT about 10 years ago to renovate one of the buildings there and repurpose the bases of some of the properties and the public space that was rarely utilized or noticed after business hours.

The addition of restaurants and other amenities has transformed that section of Tech Square into “an incredible food destination” and has enlivened the public park into a place where people congregate both during and after business hours.

“It has extended what people think of Kendall Square. For a long time I think people thought that Kendall Square ended at the train tracks,” Pollack says. “And now I think that Tech Square is really considered part of Kendall Square.” The project, he notes extended the center of activity in Cambridge and in fact the border of people's perception of Kendall Square itself.

Today, restaurants such as Catalyst and Area 4 at Tech Square have created a new identity for the property. “It is kind of amazing what's happened in that neighborhood and it is exactly what MIT wanted to have happen.”

Pollack also credits Samuels & Associates for its work on Boylston Street in the Fenway section of the city where it has integrated food, retail and other entertainment amenities into their properties and as a result has created a new and vibrant identity for that neighborhood.

BOSTON—Savvy developers, landlords and corporate executives are embracing the increased importance of designing healthy workplaces. Besides devoting space for the latest ergonomic furniture and fitness equipment, easy access to fine dining and healthy food offerings are amenities many tenants here and across the country now crave.

Scott Pollack, a principal of Boston-based architectural and design firm Arrowstreet Inc. says that because many cities are looking to become more integrated and foster a vibrant live-work 24-7 environment, the access to fine dining and food is becoming increasingly important and many real estate developers in Boston and elsewhere across the country are recognizing this emerging trend.

Pollack attended the Urban Land Institute's Food and Real Estate Forum, part of ULI's Building Healthy Places Initiative, in New Orleans last February, where he learned that at some companies CFOs not only stand for chief financial officers, but chief food officers as well. And like conventional CFOs, these culinary-focused executives are key players in corporate real estate decisions as well as office or project design.

One firm that realizes the importance of food in real estate development is EDENS, Pollack says. The Columbia, SC-based shopping center development company hired chef Richard Brandenburg as its first director of culinary strategy in 2011. Both Brandenburg and EDENS CEO Jodie McLean participated in the ULI food forum event and in fact McLean served as the forum chair.

Pollack says that corporations, as well as real estate developers, are following EDENS' lead and are now focusing on food as a critical amenity that will attract Millennials to their businesses or their properties.

“Food has become the anchor to the experience economy. It is integral to almost all new real estate developments from individual buildings to new communities and malls,” Pollack relates.

He says that although there is a definite trend toward online retail shopping, bricks and mortar retail is still working in many places, especially in urban centers, where Millennials view shopping as a social experience.

“That social aspect of food becoming an integral part of that (live-work experience) is now more important and a lot of real estate developers are really recognizing that,” Pollack says.

He adds that companies, in their quest for talented Millennials, are not only leasing space in vibrant, urban centers where their workers have plenty of options for healthy dining and entertainment, but are also designing new trendy dining areas for their workers as well.

Pollack believes that a new trend in office design is to accommodate those who like to brown bag their meals. “We are starting to see in some places where not only do you provide a refrigerator or microwave for people to be able to make their lunch at home and bring it in with then, but actually I think we are going to start to see more and more cases where people can actually prepare their own food at some level within their workplace.”

Food has become a key component of Related Beal's Congress Square project in Boston. Pollack says that Arrowstreet was charged by Related Beal to reinvigorate the two-block section around the old Fidelity Investment headquarters in Downtown Boston. The site is one block from the lively Quincy Market and one block from the equally vibrant Post Office Square.

“Yet the two blocks on Congress Street, which is across from our offices, are quite dead because Fidelity was so inward looking in the way they used those buildings,” he notes. “It has really created this rather strange disconnect for two really active places that are so close together from an urban planning perspective.”

A key facet of the planning and marketing of the mixed-use redevelopment of the Congress Square project is to turn the bottom of the old Fidelity buildings into “an active retail and in particular food destination that really enlivens the street” for residents, business and hotel guests in the area.

He says that an alley behind the property features old-fashioned spiral fire escapes that will help create this unique food-retail environment for the area. The alley will feature cafes, restaurants and outdoor seating for patrons. The goal is to use the food concept as an identity for what is now just a back alley.

“From an urban planning perspective what it does is it starts to re-knit together that Quincy Market, Faneuil Hall areas with Post Office Square and extend that lifestyle experience through a part of the old Financial District in a way that hasn't existed before,” he adds.

An example of where food retail reinvigorated a neighborhood was MIT's Tech Square in Kendall Square in Cambridge, MA. Arrowstreet was hired by MIT about 10 years ago to renovate one of the buildings there and repurpose the bases of some of the properties and the public space that was rarely utilized or noticed after business hours.

The addition of restaurants and other amenities has transformed that section of Tech Square into “an incredible food destination” and has enlivened the public park into a place where people congregate both during and after business hours.

“It has extended what people think of Kendall Square. For a long time I think people thought that Kendall Square ended at the train tracks,” Pollack says. “And now I think that Tech Square is really considered part of Kendall Square.” The project, he notes extended the center of activity in Cambridge and in fact the border of people's perception of Kendall Square itself.

Today, restaurants such as Catalyst and Area 4 at Tech Square have created a new identity for the property. “It is kind of amazing what's happened in that neighborhood and it is exactly what MIT wanted to have happen.”

Pollack also credits Samuels & Associates for its work on Boylston Street in the Fenway section of the city where it has integrated food, retail and other entertainment amenities into their properties and as a result has created a new and vibrant identity for that neighborhood.