Earning a master’s degree at nearby Harvard University, Paul Ognibene has always viewed Boston as home. He’s proud to lead a company as the CEO of Urban Spaces that is committed to developing real estate that will help the people in Cambridge and surrounding areas live happier lives. Paul Ognibene and his company have accomplished this recently with their work along the First Street Corridor in East Cambridge.
Paul Ognibene and his company identified the area as a location where the natural surroundings were outstanding, but a lot of the properties in the area simply were no longer up to the challenge of housing up and coming businesses, real estate properties and people looking to move to the area. It’s why Urban Spaces set out to complete many different projects to bring state-of-the-art buildings that would offer incredible lodging options, office space ready to house the world’s top tech companies and retail stores that would make any shopper happy.
In order to secure the last piece of the redevelopment puzzle for the area, Paul Ognibene and Urban Spaces needed to secure a loan for $71 million with the People’s United Bank. This is a loan that took several months to get approved as there were many different complexities to the proposed multi-tier building. Ultimately, the strength of the plan for the property and the long working history between the bank and Urban Spaces led to a loan that was secured and will help accomplish great things for East Cambridge.
The last piece of the development puzzle in the area is Kendall East, which is a two-building property that will be utilized to house office space, residential apartments and retail stores. The area is very popular as it’s just a short walk from Kendall Square and the Lechmere MBTA Station. Many locals choose to commute utilizing only public transportation or their bikes in the area, so it was important to create a building that would offer everything these people needed in an office, retail, or residential space.
Paul Ognibene started his grand vision for East Cambridge when he started to notice the trends in the industries of life science and technology in the area. East Cambridge would need to work fast in order to keep some of the brightest minds from local schools and also attract major companies to help make East Cambridge one of the fastest areas of job growth in the state. With every construction project across First Street, Urban Spaces has helped conjure up more interest and more jobs in the area.
Paul Ognibene CEO 