State Street’s new HQ at One Congress is finally open. Here’s a tour

Four years and one global pandemic after its groundbreaking, downtown Boston’s One Congress office tower is getting its grand opening.

Boston-based development firm The HYM Investment Group and partners Carr and National Real Estate Advisors are hosting a ribbon cutting outside the 600-foot building on Thursday afternoon. Their largest tenant, State Street Corp., began moving in this spring, but only took full occupancy of its 510,000 square feet this month.

For developers and tenants, the opening of most any skyscraper is cause for celebration. The One Congress convening may be particularly exultant, considering HYM and broker CBRE fully leased the building amid the post-COVID upheaval in the office market.

“When COVID hit, we were the only ones committed to this building. The need for office space was in flux. Nobody really knew what they were doing,” said Dustin Sarnoski, State Street’s global head of real estate. “It's remarkable they've been able to fill this building entirely.”