Four more years for big development in downtown Boston
If you like the direction downtown Boston has taken over the past decade or so, Tuesday was your day.
A wave of sleek, new glass-and-steel condo high-rises has sprouted up on seemingly every street corner, from the Ritz-Carlton Towers off once woe-begotten lower Washington Street to the Mandarin Oriental next to the Prudential Tower.
And the big win by Mayor Thomas M. Menino ensures we will see more of the same as the economy starts to pick up steam.
Under the mayor’s tenure, City Hall's development arm has given a green light to a flood of new condo and apartment units downtown, most of them of the luxury stripe.
The proposal by the BRA, now in in draft form, sets the stage for new high-rise development along the fast-growing Stuart Street corridor.
The once sideshow of a street is home to the soon to open Clarendon hotel and apartment tower on the Back Bay end and the just opened W Boston where Stuart meets the Theater District.
The proposal covers a 40-area that is anchored at one end by the new Clarendon condo and apartment tower near the Hancock. It includes the site of the ill-fated Columbus Center air-rights project, as well as the new Bryant condo complex.
Developers who agree to pony up for public art, additional affordable housing, or streetscape improvements could get a waiver to build up to 400 feet, under the proposal being weighed by city officials.
While that’s chump change compared to the Hancock tower, it’s probably a sensible limit given tough new restrictions the FAA wants on new tower proposals to protect flight paths in and out of Logan. (On that note, check out this story on Don Chiofaro’s proposal for a pair of 700-foot-plus towers next to the new Greenway, one big project the mayor clearly isn’t a fan of.)
Right now, given the low state of the economy, we are likely to see more planning and talk than actual construction.
But when things pick up, you can bet the Stuart Street corridor will be the next hot spot in a wave of new development that is transforming downtown Boston.
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This is a form of "contract zoning," and illegal.
"And the big win by Mayor Thomas M. Menino ensures we will see more of the same as the economy starts to pick up steam."
What recovery? You mean the phony 3rd quarter GDP release where 92% of the "growth" was in nonreccuring factors (that means they won't show up in Q4)? Or maybe its the 50% rally in stocks fueled by trillions in printed dollars? Or maybe the recovery signs include:
The unemployment rate is 9.8% (17% for U6)
A bill is being proposed to extend unemployment benefits up to 99 weeks (why extend, isn't the recession over?)
Consumer confidence index is at 47.7
Home prices continue to drop (Case Shiller down 9.1% YOY in September) , while foreclosures continue to rise (filings are up 22% in 2009 Q3 versus 2008 Q3)
Annual GDP Down 2.3% (5.7% SGS)
Durables Goods Orders at 1997 Level
Help-Wanted Adverting at New 58-Year Low
It is truly pathetic that we have clowns like this for leadership dealing with this crisis...
Mr. Frank's letter complains examiners are enforcing "unofficial" capital requirements that are higher than the normal standard. Secondly, it says examiners are focusing bank reviews mainly on asset quality and not other measures of a bank's health. Third, it says "banks are being forced" to write down the value of assets to their market value, which can lead to "artificially low prices."
I guess market value is taboo...
HUng
Strikes me that development in central Boston is good, and "green". As long as we aren't tearing down historic districts to do so, building higher density in the city is good for the city, good for housing costs, good for the local economy - pretty much good all around.
The city is where development belongs, not the suburbs
Hung: Check out the Nov. 5 Floyd Norris column in the NYT... Some interesting reading.
"This year, a subcommittee of the House Financial Services Committee held a hearing at which legislators sought no facts but instead threatened dire action if the chairman of the financial accounting board did not promptly make it easier for banks to ignore market values of the toxic securities they owned. The board caved in, which may be one reason why banks are reporting fewer losses these days.
But the board’s retreat was not enough to satisfy the banks. The American Bankers Association is now pushing Congress to give a new systemic risk regulator — either the Federal Reserve or some panel of regulators — the power to override accounting standards. The view of the bankers is that the financial crisis did not stem from the fact that the banks made lots of bad loans and invested in dubious securities; it was caused by accounting rules that required disclosure when the losses began to mount."
charles i agree. while i dont feel like menino is totally "clean" i do like what he's done with boston. there are rougher neighborhoods here, but go down to north philly and you'll see a real ghetto.
This blogger might want to review your comment before posting it.
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