Menino proposes selling City Hall
Mayor Thomas M. Menino proposed in a morning speech today to sell the current City Hall and City Hall Plaza to private developers and relocate the seat of city government to Drydock Four on the South Boston Waterfront.
"This sale will open up prime real estate for facilities and open space that will galvanize the vitality of our downtown and strengthen Boston's future," Menino said in a speech at a breakfast event sponsored by the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce.
Menino explored a possible sale of City Hall in 1998. Now he's proposing a sale again as part of a plan that would bring an iconic, new City Hall structure to Drydock Four, the current site of the Bank of America Pavilion.
"The market value of City Hall and City Hall Plaza will attract sufficient revenue to construct a new seat for city government," Menino said in his speech.
Senator Jack Hart, a South Boston Democrat who had been briefed on the mayor's proposal, said, "This is the biggest news to come out of City Hall in 25 years."
(By Thomas C. Palmer, Jr. and Chris Reidy, Globe staff)
