La Vie En Millennium Place: New Downtown Units Offer ‘Buyer’s Experience’

Originally posted on Bostinno by Nate Boroyan

Millennium Place isn’t a residential property; it’s 15-story luxury box that would leave even those who sit with Robert Kraft on Sundays salivating.

Located at 580 Washington St., on the corner of Avery St., near the Paramount Theater in Boston’s Downtown, Millennium Place feels like a five-star hotel. But there are no short-term stays here. All 256 luxury units are residential, and not for lease.

As soon as one enters the lobby, and its glass doors shut — closing out Boston’s bustling, congested Downtown — you feel comfortably isolated, like you’ve entered a multi-million dollar tree house.

That’s what residents are supposed to feel; Millennium Place is not only a home, its a club that sells exclusivity. And sells it well.

Millennium Partners’ Rich Baumert was kind enough to take members of the media (myself included) on a tour of Millennium Place this morning, just before the first resident moves in tomorrow.

The first stop on the tour is the Club, a few steps down the hall that connects to the lobby. Through the Club’s doors, on the wall to my far right, a long fireplace is lit, providing a cozy feel to future occupants of contemporary-style chairs that sit in front of it. To my left, a stylish bar occupies the back corner of the Club.

The bar and the fireplace act as bookends to a the spacious room, made even larger thanks to a giant floor-to-ceiling window which serves as a back wall.

A private, four-table dining room remains concealed behind two doors, until Baumert guides us in.

Soon, Millennium Place will have its own Legal Sea Foods, thanks to a partnership between Millennium Partners and Legal Sea Foods CEO Roger Berkowitz. Legal Crossing, “LX”, will be open to the public, not just owners.

Not only will Berkowitz bring a new Legal Sea Foods concept to the residential building, he’ll also be the first “fireside” speaker Millennium Place plans to offer its owners as a part of the trademarked social program, “La Vie”.

Millennium’s La Vie program emerged, Baumert said, “from a want and desire for people to connect.”

For three years, La Vie has offered residents of Millennium Partners properties the opportunity to meet and connect with other owners and experience the culture and lifestyle of their city.

Residents don’t have to participate in fireside chats. Instead, if they choose to do so, residents can make themselves at home in the complimentary, 16-seat theater, for movie nights every Wednesday. Or cheer on the Patriots with a group on Sundays.

Millennium Place has a complimentary, first-floor gym, designed an operated by Sports Club/LA, and a separate mind and body room, fitted with a yoga studio and separate, two-person message parlor.

These amenities, Baumert said, appeal to young professionals in their late 20s or retirees who don’t want to worry about maintaining a home, and want to enjoy the luxury services Millennium Place provides.

After, Baumert proceeds to take the tour up an elevator, from the first to the third floor.

We exit the elevator onto carpeted floors, stretching up and down long, narrow hallways lined with dark bamboo doors. Behind these, residential units ranging from $750,000 to $3.5 million sit, waiting to be occupied.

Baumert gives us a tour of a 1,900-square-foot, three-bedroom unit, costing $2.2 million. It’s the best of this stack. The room offers a view directly down Avery street, out of the top-to-bottom window lining the back of the unit which is dominated by a kitchen and spacious, open living room.

Two bedrooms and a smaller “den” are separated from the kitchen and living room by a hallway. Both the master and “second” room are equipped with bathrooms including glassed-in showers.

There’s only two of this particular model still on the market, Baumert tells us.

In fact, with move-ins starting this week, 85 percent of Millennium’s units have already been sold. This is understandable. Once you get a taste of its amenities, you don’t want to leave. I didn’t.

Then Baumert brought the tour to a close.

Ultimately, owners are Millennium’s top priority. Baumert feels that Millennium’s complete control and management of the project provides residents with a “Buyer’s experience.”

Millennium Place, designed by Handel Architects’ Blake Middleton features one, two, and three-bedroom units, ranging from 775 square feet to 2,360 square feet.

The project was originally proposed in 2007, before the financial collapse, but didn’t break ground until 2011, when Suffolk Construction started its operations.