Owners of the Government Center Garage have replaced Ted Raymond as the developer of the property and have decided to keep the garage and upper floor offices in place, at least in the short-term. Raymond had proposed a multi-tower office plan for the property up to 600 feet in height which ran into fierce opposition from West End/North End/Beacon Hill neighborhood groups, the BRA’s Impact Advisory Group and the Mayor’s Office.
Raymond Company,Thomas O’Brien
Both the Globe and the Herald are reporting that Thomas O’Brien, a former BRA director, will replace the Raymond Company, manage the site and eventually present a new plan for redevelopment. For now, the owners will keep the garage and lease the upper floors being vacated by the Environmental Protection Agency.
It was apparent that all sides involved in the redevelopment process were frustrated (see IAG Throws Up Yellow Flag on the Government Center Garage Plan) and Raymond had been complaining of the costs in revising his plans based on feedback from the original proposal. The owners of the property are National Electrical Benefit Fund and Acorn Asst Management who bought it for $243 million in 2007.
The North End’s Nancy Caruso is quoted in the Herald as saying, “We don’t need an office tower. We need a supermarket, a school and affordable housing and parking.”
Ah, yes, Nancy. A supermarket so that another locally owned butcher or grocery store can go out of business. I’d much rather give my money to Shaws than the Polcari family.
The butcher shop(s) went out of business without a supermarket being here. We need a supermarket besides Whole Foods that is within walking distance of the North End and West End. There would have been a Stop & Shop in the Battery Wharf development but the same mentality of Adam B prevailed. There was supposed to be a supermarket in one of the new developments in one of the North Station parcels from the Big Dig. People who shop in the local butcher markets and Polcaris will continue to do so even if a supermarket is built close to this neighborhood. Bet you get your meat (that is if you even cook) in Shaws. If there was not a need for lower priced groceries in the neighborhood, Peapods and Johnnies would not have so many deliveries in the North End and buses would not be running several days a week to take residents, especially senior citizens to Johnnies, Stop & Shop, and Shaws.
So Adam, good for you. Keep giving your $ to Polcaris and Shaws but stop knocking Nancy Caruso who has been working for years with the Supermarket Commitee and the BRA and who ever else she can use her considerable political influence on to get a damn supermarket for the NE/WE/BH neighborhoods.
This was an incredible opportunity to replace one of the biggest blights on the downtown area with a development that would spawn economic and social activity. These buildings would rejuvenate what has become a tired, dull, static, and completely uninspiring skyline. Why an enormous concrete slab was put smack dab in the middle of a thriving downtown area is a question every right-minded Bostononian ponders daily as they walk through govt center. At least with these towers we would only have one building in the running for the annual “ugliest building in the world” contest.
The resistance to change and more specifically height is infuriating for those of us who love Boston and want it to continue to be a relevant city. Great, got forbid a shadow was EVER cast on a park that is enjoyed for half the year (mostly by the homeless anyway).
An elementary school for a city that has failed to graduate and move to BIGGER and better things like its classmates…how appropriate.
“Boston does not appreciate how much risk it takes to do a significant development. We can put a building up in Chicago in 16 months.” That about says it all…
The same people that want everything to close before midnight block a once in a lifetime opportunity to remove one of the biggest eyesores in the city. And please, spare me the “we need parking” rhetoric…the parking was going to be moved underground…where it belongs!
"For those of us who love Boston". Obviously JP thinks that anyone who does not want to see giant towers does not share his love of the city. Those of us who love THIS part of the city do not want to see an over sized office tower that will expand the financial district into the NE/WE/BH neighborhoods.
People are not against development…they just want to see a different design that is not so enormous and will not cast humongous shadows on the Greenway.
"Parks that are enjoyed for at most half of the year and mostly by the homeless" JP has obviously never been to the North End parks which are filled with families and kids playing in the fountains, people playing frisbee or whatever on the lawn, talking with friends or enjoying lunch or a coffee at the tables.
"we can put up a building in Chicago in 16 months…that about says it all" WHO CARES WHAT THEY DO IN CHICAGO?