Future of new Prudential towers left with BRA, mayor's office
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The fate of two towers proposed at the Prudential Center now lies in the hands of City Hall officials, but without a clear way forward after the advisory board charged with overseeing the Pru's expansions since 1988 last week failed to reach a consensus for the first time.
The Boston Redevelopment Authority and Mayor Thomas M. Menino will have to decide whether to approve or halt the projects.
"It's the mayor's decision at this point," PruPAC chairwoman Betsy Johnson said in an interview after voting in favor of both projects herself. "Certain people weren't going to change their position no matter what was said."
"Our process was to hopefully end up with a better project for the community; if the project does not go ahead that's due to a lot of reasons, the economy for one," she said. "If the project does go forward it's a better project than it was a year ago."
PruPAC, the Prudential Policy Advisory Committee, has advised the BRA on commercial development at the Pru for 20 years, and has often been charged by community members with working secretly, until now.
The vote "is a testament to opening this up to the public process," said neighborhood activist Shirley Kressel. "What the BRA does with this will be the next test. From the community's point of view, they are overwhelmingly against it."
Representatives from both development teams declined to comment on the vote.
"We still have more process to go," Michael Cantalupa, senior vice president of
PruPAC's 24 members split their vote last Monday on a 311-foot Exeter Street residential tower proposed by Avalon Bay. In the other vote, the panel, made up of representatives from commercial interests and community groups, approved Boston Properties' proposed 242-foot office tower at 888 Boylston St. by only three votes.
The BRA will hold a public hearing on the project at City Hall on Dec. 4.
JUSTIN A. RICE
