On Thursday, September 24, Synergy and Build617 cut the ribbon on the Build617 founders’ space, a free workspace for early-stage and AI-native companies in Downtown Boston.
Boston city officials, the Synergy team, and founders from across the city’s startup and AI community packed the space for the opening, which included the ribbon cutting, tours, and an evening of networking. The night also marked one year since Build617 was founded.
The founders space is the centerpiece of a partnership between Synergy and Build617, the founder-led community working to build more breakout tech companies in Boston. Synergy provides the space rent-free to Boston founders. Build617 selects the companies and builds the community.
Why downtown, why now
Boston is having a real moment as a tech, startup, and AI hub, and downtown is where it’s happening. This year alone brought Boston AI Week and the city’s first-ever Boston Tech Week, while the Massachusetts AI Coalition has named downtown Boston the city’s AI hub.
That momentum is broad and organized, not a single company or a one-off headline. Founders, VCs, and AI-native companies are concentrating in and around downtown rather than heading to the suburbs or leaving for other markets. The Build617 headquarters is a physical bet on that shift: a place where founders can build side by side, steps from the investors, firms, and customers they’ll need next.
Boston’s universities have fostered innovators and founders. The hard part has always been keeping them here instead of losing them to San Francisco.
“Boston’s universities have always produced world-class founders — the challenge has never been talent, it’s been keeping that talent here instead of losing it to San Francisco,” said David Greaney, Founder and CEO of Synergy. “Build617 HQ is our answer to that question. We’re not just a landlord in this story — we’re a member of this business community, and we’re betting on the founders building here right now.”
Greaney knows the founder’s path firsthand. “I started out as an entrepreneur here in Boston, and this city gave me the room to figure things out, take swings, and eventually build something real,” he said. “This is one way of giving back to Boston the way Boston gave to me — and real estate happens to be the tool we have to do it.”
It’s an extension of how Synergy approaches every building it owns: with a hospitality mindset that treats the people inside as guests, not just leaseholders, and that sees downtown’s economic vitality as something to invest in, not just observe.
For Build617 founder Nathan Spielberg, who is also co-founder and CTO of Tamarin AI, the location is the point. “Partnering with Synergy means our founders get to build in the middle of everything — steps from the banks, the firms, and the other companies they’ll eventually sell to, hire from, or raise from,” he said. “Being downtown isn’t a nice-to-have for these companies, it’s the unlock. Synergy understood that immediately, and they backed it with real space instead of just talking about it.”
The founders space is already home to more than 20 companies building real products across AI, healthcare, fintech, and marketing. Build617’s partners also include Stifel Venture Banking, CLA, and Cooley.
Synergy owns and operates more than 30 commercial assets across Greater Boston, totaling nearly 7 million square feet, and as the startups in this new space grow, we want them to keep growing downtown. Boston already has the founders. Our job is to give them a reason, and a place, to stay.
Thank you to the Boston Business Journal for the coverage. Visit https://www.bizjournals.com/boston/news/2026/09/24/build617-synergy-free-office-space.html to learn more about the event.
Founders interested in the space can learn more at build617.org.