Featuring Mayor Tom Menino as himself in a “godfather” role and an actor playing International Place developer Don Chiofaro, this MassInc parody video pokes fun at the ongoing Harbor Garage development dispute along the Greenway. Watch for the North End’s Modern Pastry box at the end. The video is also featured on the Boston Herald Read More…
L-R Rebecca Mattson, Fundraising Chair of the ABCD North End/West End Neighborhood Service Center; Anthony Petruccelli, State Senator; Aaron Michlewitz, State Representative, 3rd Suffolk District; City Council Vice President, Sal LaMattina, District 1; Lia Tota, Director of the ABCD North End/West End Neighborhood Service Center; John Drew, President and CEO of ABCD (Photo by Don Read More…
As only he can, developer Don Chiofaro stirred the press into a fury today as he presented a modestly scaled down version of “Aquarium Place” on the Harbor Garage site. The two angular towers have been cut by about 20% from the height of the original proposal and now stand at 615 and 471 feet. Read More…
In the latest round of news regarding the fate the Harbor Garage site, developer Don Chiofaro supported his plan for 600’ high towers by releasing a shadow study indicating minimal negative impact versus the proposed BRA 200’ height guidelines. From a Banker & Tradesman article, “According to Chiofaro’s own study, all shadows associated by a building Read More…
The revised Chiofaro plan for the Harbor Garage Redevelopment took another hit as the Federal Aviation Administration said it cannot accept any plan over 407 feet, which is the current size of the existing Harbor Towers. It is very interesting that the FAA height limit is much lower than MassPort’s air corridor limit of 625 Read More…
The Chiofaro Company has modestly downsized the scale of its proposed plan to redevelop the Harbor Garage. The height of the project has been modestly reduced from 770 feet to 625 feet which is roughly a change to 53 stories, down from 59. Apparently, the reduction is due to comments from MassPort and its airspace Read More…
The Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) issued a 60-page “scoping determination” (click here to open pdf) that will significantly delay developer Chiofaro’s plans to redevelop the Harbor Garage near the Aquarium. This document comes a few days after the State’s environmental agency issued is strong opposition to the current proposal (see previous posts here). The BRA’s Read More…
In a strongly worded decision letter, Secretary Ian Bowles of the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, has ruled against Don Chiofaro’s tower proposal for the current site occupied by the Harbor Garage by the Aquarium. Click here to read the 20 page decision letter (pdf). The Boston Globe summarizes the State agency’s Read More…
The Boston Harbor Association’s influential Vivien Li commented on the Chiofaro proposal in a Banker & Tradesman piece titled “Chiofaro Plan May Be Welcome At Waterfront.” If you are a B&T subscriber, you can read the entire article. Regarding height, TBHA appears to be less concerned than others going above the current 155 foot zoning Read More…
In a special meeting, the North End/Waterfront Residents’ Association (NEWRA) approved a letter to public officials that “strongly opposes the project.” NEWRA believes “the project is too massive and totally out-of-scale for this waterfront site.” After a line-by-line editing of the 5-page letter, NEWRA members overwhelmingly approved the letter which will be available for submittal Read More…