When you think of innovation, a drink company doesn’t automatically spring to mind. But Culture Pop Soda is driving change in the soft drink industry, delivering a probiotic soda made with organic fruit juices and real spices and herbs. When the company needed to expand its corporate headquarters it chose 64 Pleasant Street in Watertown, which Berkeley Investments recently redeveloped and is marketing as a hub of innovation. Having worked with Berkeley on many projects at the Watch Factory in Waltham, Vantage Builders was their choice to build-out Culture Pop Soda’s new headquarters.

A historic mill and industrial building, 64 Pleasant Street has served in the paper, manufacturing, printing and laundry service industries during its 160 years. The project began with a precon agreement, with the Vantage team providing design-build services. Key to the project was designing a MEP layout that would highlight the beautiful, exposed post-and-beam original construction of the building, to give Culture Pop an eye-catching space. This required consolidating as much of the above-ceiling MEP as possible over the rooms that would have ceilings – the conference, huddle and phone rooms. The 5,000-square-foot layout is very open, allowing for communication and collaboration among the Culture Pop team. There is a new kitchenette and breakroom, a lounge area, and a welcoming reception area and all the rooms feature demountable glass fronts. With the new third floor location, the team removed several of the large external windows to allow for accepting materials directly into the space, in order to complete the project with minimal disruption to the building’s other tenant, Via Separations.

LOCATION
Watertown, MA

SQUARE FOOTAGE
5,000

PROJECT TYPE
CORPORATE

PROJECT SERVICES
Design-Build
Construction Management

ARCHITECT
SGA