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Our regular compendium of arcane data, interesting trends and notable figures powered by The Warren Group databases and compiled by our own Aglaia Pikounis.
Loan refinancing activity has boomed recently. Nearly 19,000 single-family home loan refis were recorded in February. That’s a 22 percent increase from a year earlier and a huge improvement from late summer and fall.
Here’s one thing people searching for a new home in this spring market might want to keep in mind: the difference between home prices and condo prices has shrunk significantly in recent years.
A new report from The Warren Group today offered some encouraging news. Fewer properties were lost to foreclosure in February compared to January and to the same month in 2008.
Federal and state official announced yesterday that they were cracking down on foreclosure rescue scams and loan modification fraud. That’s surely welcome news in cities like Springfield and Worcester, where thousands of desperate borrowers are trying to save their homes.
Most parts of the Bay State are hurting when it comes to the housing market, and home prices don’t seem to be stabilizing. But some parts of the state are hurting less than others.
The sale of real estate-owned property, or REOs, is definitely a drag on home sales prices. The Warren Group found that if the bank-owned property sales were taken out to the equation, the median price for homes sold in January and February would have been $272,000 instead of $251,000.
Which institutions are doing the most lending in Massachusetts?
Where can you find a home for less than $300,000?
My husband and I bought a modest single-family home in Boston’s Jamaica Plain neighborhood back in 2002, so I’m always interested in what’s happening with home values in Boston.
The news this morning that Manny Ramirez put his penthouse at the Residences at the Ritz-Carlton on the market for a whopping $8.5 million got my attention.
For those who’ve always wanted a vacation home on the Cape this may be an ideal to snap up a bargain. The median price for a condo on the Cape fell to $257,450 in January, the latest month for which statistics are available.
It’s a question a lot of folks have been asking ever since President Obama unveiled details of his mortgage rescue plan 12 days ago: How many Bay State residents will be eligible for help?
Real estate professionals have frequently pushed the idea that owning a home is a good long-term investment. But with housing values plummeting, many people are starting to question whether relying on their homes as investments is really such a good idea.
Optimists hoping 2009 would deliver some better news for the local housing market will have to wait some more.
Malden had 17 foreclosures last month, more than double the number in January 2008. Two years ago during the same month, Malden didn’t have any foreclosures. Saugus had 10 foreclosures, which was more than triple the foreclosures a year earlier. Weymouth had only 1 foreclosure last January but that number jumped to 5 last month. It’s only a month’s worth of data, but it’s still worth keeping an eye on.
Worcester’s condo market has suffered some deep losses during this housing downturn. Sales of condos last year totaled only 386 – down about 46 percent from two years ago when condo sales peaked at 711 transactions.
Here’s a surprising real estate factoid that hasn’t been widely reported: While sales of single-family homes and condos in Massachusetts tumbled in 2008, sales of two- and three-family homes jumped 21.5 percent.
I caught a report on NBC Nightly News last night highlighting a burgeoning new business: cleaning up vacant foreclosed homes. Apparently, these clean-up companies are springing up all over the country. The report showed crews clearing out books, couches, lamps, blankets and other personal belongings from abandoned homes in Big Bear, California – an area that is being referred to as foreclosure alley.
At a time when most towns and cities were suffering through the housing slump, Wellesley was joining the exclusive million-dollar club: The median home price in the toney town topped $1 million in 2008.
Realtors will tell you that the island’s real estate market is largely driven by affluent second-home buyers, who unlike most other homeowners don’t have to sell their property unless they get the asking price they want. But 2008 broke that trend.
A sampling of transactions from The Warren Group shows that roughly 30 percent of single-family home and condo sellers sold at a loss - meaning that they sold their property for less than what they originally paid for it.
In some Massachusetts communities, as much as a quarter or more of sales transactions involved a bank or lending institution.
Some good news: The Bay State communities most people think of when it comes to high foreclosure activity — like Worcester, Brockton Lowell, Lynn and Dorchester – all had a drop in foreclosure deeds during the first quarter compared to a year ago.
One of the biggest challenges for real estate agents, especially in a down market, is getting home sellers to price their property to accurately reflect market value.
Perhaps someone needs to remind Curt Schilling that Medfield isn’t Weston.
Lexington, Dover and Sudbury aren’t places you typically associate with foreclosures. But foreclosure prevention counselors and real estate brokers have been reporting that a growing number of homeowners are defaulting on their mortgage payments because of unemployment.
As reported by Banker & Tradesman, Massachusetts Land Court Judge Keith Long refused to change a ruling he made in March when he found that two lenders had improperly foreclosed on two Springfield homes because they didn’t hold the mortgages at the time of the auction sales. My initial reaction was good for the judge for admonishing lenders and servicers for their sloppy practices. But after listening to some of the critics, I’m definitely confused.
With the auction of new luxury condos in Boston slated to take place next week, I thought it would be interesting to take a look at what’s been happening with condo sales. Condo sales in the Hub are at their lowest point in eight years. A total of 2,888 condos sold through August. From 2004 to 2007, condo sales for that same period were averaging over 4,600, according to data collected by The Warren Group.
Some good news emerged today about foreclosures in Massachusetts. Fewer properties have been foreclosed on so far this year compared to 2008, according to a new report from The Warren Group. But before any pronouncements are made that the foreclosure crisis is over, here is something to consider: Lenders haven’t really slowed down on starting foreclosure proceedings.
Some good news for the housing market: The Warren Group reports today that single-family home sales jumped almost 12 percent in July from the same month last year. There were almost 5,000 single-family home sales during the month, the best sales pace for the month of July since 2005.
Here we go again. The group that was trying to repeal the state’s affordable housing law two years ago is taking another crack it.
The Appraisal Institute, a group representing professional real estate appraisers throughout the world, recently took a swipe at appraisers who take assignments in geographic locations that they’re not knowledgeable about.
Some of the ritziest towns in Massachusetts have seen the worst home sales in over two decades. Only 42 single-family homes were sold in Weston, where the median home price has exceeded $1 million since 2003, in the first half of 2009. The last time sales transactions were so slow for the first two quarters was in 1987, according to The Warren Group.
If the economic downturn has pummeled home prices in many parts of the state, it’s nearly pulverized prices in some of the Bay State’s most popular vacation spots.
Gov. Deval Patrick’s hometown has made Money Magazine’s top 10 “Best Places to Live."
So let me get this right. Congressman Barney Frank is now proposing to give loans to unemployed homeowners who are having trouble keeping up with mortgage payments. Really? The solution to helping people who can’t afford their home loans because they don’t have jobs is to give them another loan, pushing them further into debt?
Here’s one study that is likely to get a lot of attention: The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston reports in a new paper that lenders aren’t modifying many loans for homeowners at risk of foreclosure because it’s not profitable for them.
The National Association of Exclusive Buyer Agents (NAEBA) wants to make sure buyers and sellers know exactly who the real estate agent is truly representing in a real estate transaction.
Scott Van Voorhis writes in this week’s Banker & Tradesman that the Bay State won’t see the steep home price drops that other parts of the country have seen, including communities in California. He points out that one of the reasons home prices are a bit more resilient here is that there hasn’t been the type of overbuilding that took place in places like Phoenix and Las Vegas.
Condominium sales in Massachusetts have been pretty sluggish for the last six months and prices have slumped considerably. But there are some communities where condo prices are on the rise.
About five years ago, I wrote a column for Banker & Tradesman about luxury home sales that mentioned a multi-million dollar mansion that was under construction on Lee Street near Brookline’s country club. The home was listed for $4.65 million at the time. Just a few weeks ago the home caught my attention again, and not just because it’s currently on the market again for over $4.6 million.
Housing experts routinely point out that bank-owned and other distressed property sales are dragging down home values in many parts of the country. What’s happening here in Massachusetts?
What can you get in Massachusetts for between $100,000 and $200,000? Apparently a lot more than you could a year ago.
Home shoppers have become more frugal. Sales of million-dollar-plus homes in Massachusetts have plummeted. A total of 174 single-family homes with price tags of $1 million or higher traded in the first three months of the year, according to The Warren Group.
Groups like the National Association of Realtors are saying that distressed homes, including foreclosed properties, typically sell for 20 percent less than traditional homes. The number of distressed home sales has grown and NAR says they’re skewing median home prices. In Massachusetts, The Warren Group recently looked at the sale of some distressed properties.
Crafty home sellers can come up with some pretty creative incentives to entice buyers when market conditions are sluggish.
It seems like even well-paid celebrities can’t escape the foreclosure crisis.
The Obama administration made a big deal about a foreclosure rescue/housing plan it announced earlier this year.
The Warren Group issued a surprising report this morning that foreclosures in Massachusetts are down 26 percent so far this year compared to 2008.
Apparently low interest rates and reduced home prices aren’t enough incentive to get consumers to purchase new homes.
It seems like just yesterday homeowners were eagerly lining up to secure home equity loans to transform their tiny drab 1970s kitchens into gleaming chef’s paradises or their yellow-tiled baths into spa-like retreats.
When the National Association of Realtors reported last week that home sales rose in June — the third consecutive month that sales increased — the media gobbled the news up. Some news reports even attributed the Dow Jones gains to the rosy Realtor report.
If you’re trying to sell a home in Boston, Revere or Chelsea, you’re more likely to be competing with foreclosed or other types of distressed properties.
Sales of two- and three-family homes in Massachusetts jumped by double-digit percentages in the first two quarters from a year earlier, according to The Warren Group.
There have been numerous stories lately about how the housing market is starting to stabilize or recover. Try telling that to my neighbors who have their homes on the market. For-sale signs began popping up along the tree-lined street in Jamaica Plain where my home sits around the beginning of June.
Lenders are stepping up the pace of mortgage modifications, according to a recent story in the Patriot Ledger. The article highlights the plight of a Brockton woman who was able to secure a loan modification from GMAC Mortgage within a few weeks.
Another local luxury condo property is headed to auction, and the discounts being offered are pretty head-turning. The Boston Globe reports today that 42 condos at the Natick Collection are being auctioned early next month with minimum bids at about 70 percent below the previous asking prices.
Why would you commit yourself to a loan that you know you can’t really afford? A special investigation in today’s Banker & Tradesman offers some clues about how and why that could happen. The report highlights what happened to Latino homebuyers who were misled into mortgages that were way beyond their means.
The Obama administration is weighing a proposal to extend and expand the $8,000 first-time homebuyer tax credit that Realtors and experts say has helped to boost home sales.
If you’re trying to sell a pricier home in the Bay State, you’ll need to be patient. The Warren Group reports today that single-family home sales inched up 2 percent in August compared to the prior year. August was the second straight month that sales volume increased in Massachusetts.
October is shaping up to be the month for luxury condo auctions. First up, are 42 condos at the Natick Collection or the Nouvelle at Natick, which will be auctioned Sunday. The starting auction prices are being advertised as low as $160,000. Two weeks later, ten upscale units at The Bryant Back Bay are up for grabs. Starting prices are listed at just over $1 million.
Boston and Worcester have something new to cheer about. The two cities are on a list of 10 hard-hit housing markets that are ready for rebound that U.S. News & World Report recently compiled with help from Moody’s Economy.com. According to the news magazine, Moody’s Economy.com predicts that Worcester home prices will increase about 6 percent by the first quarter of 2012 and 21 percent by the first quarter of 2014.
Home prices may have declined in Massachusetts, but housing affordability is still a real concern, according to a new report that Banker & Tradesman reporter Ian Murphy wrote about. The median price for single-family homes sold through September was $285,000, The Warren Group reported today.
Momentum is really building to extend and even expand the tax credit for homebuyers. Senate leaders are reportedly backing a plan to extend the $8,000 tax credit for buyers who purchase their first homes by the middle of next year and to even offer a $6,500 credit to homeowners who haven’t moved in five years.
Investors are out in droves snapping up discounted properties. I haven’t done a scientific poll to prove this, but if you listen to real estate agents, auctioneers and even some prospective homebuyers who’ve had their purchase offers rejected you’ll believe that to be the case.
Fannie Mae has announced a new program designed to help homeowners who are facing foreclosure. The government-controlled company is giving homeowners at risk of foreclosure the option of renting their homes.
I have to admit that I’m one of those people who watch reality television. Lately, I’ve been watching the Bravo TV series “Million Dollar Listing.”
Homeowners with two mortgages or those who used 100 percent financing to purchase their residences and are now trying to negotiate a short sale may be facing even more trouble in the future.
By now, most real estate industry professionals have already heard about the rosy forecast that the chief economist of the National Association of Realtors has made.
During a tour of foreclosed properties in Fall River earlier this week, U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan noted that he’s seeing early signs of progress because foreclosure rates nationwide have dropped.
The Obama administration is putting the pressure on lenders to provide permanent loan modifications for homeowners in danger of foreclosure. So far, the federal government’s efforts to prevent foreclosures by getting mortgage companies and banks to rewrite loans have fallen short.
As if home sellers didn’t have enough to worry about, now they have to beware of one more thing: scam artists who post their home as a rental on Craigslist.
A neighbor of mine recently asked her daughter-in-law what she wanted for Christmas. Her daughter-in-law quickly replied that she didn’t want or need anything, except to find a house to buy.
Some smaller Bay State communities appear to have had the biggest increases in foreclosures this year.
It should come as no surprise that the cities that have struggled with the highest foreclosure numbers in the last two years were also facing the issue in 2009.
Median prices for single-family homes sold in Boston last year slipped 2 percent to $327,500 from $335,000. But home prices actually managed to creep up in a few city neighborhoods, according to new stats from The Warren Group.
Where in Massachusetts have home prices dropped the most since the peak of the market?
Is it good or bad news that home prices have increased for two months straight?
Weston has no shortage of ritzy properties, but a press release that I came across announcing the listing of $24.5 million estate got my attention.
A regular blog by Banker & Tradesman columnist Scott Van Voorhis offering his unique, often irreverent take on the world of Massachusetts commercial development.
Top Boston Properties execs raked in some big dough last year.
Other downtown office tower owners are surely watching nervously and hoping the Hancock’s new owners won’t slash rents in a bid to fill up all that empty space.
If you think the residential market bust has wreaked havoc on the economy, just wait until you see the commercial real estate version.
Developers are great copy cats. One guy builds a new luxury condo project, does well, and suddenly he has ten competitors following in his wake.
Who says there aren’t killer opportunities during downturns, even one as bad as this one is shaping up to be?
Developers can certainly be a colorful bunch. As a long-time business writer, I can say getting a chance to follow the Donald Trumps of the world makes the field a fun one to write about.
It’s funny how as the economy goes from bad to worse, the proposals for new projects become ever grander. Yet there may be a method behind all this seeming madness.
The offers are in for a package of unique urban marketplaces, the Hub’s Faneuil Hall Marketplace, New York’s South Street Seaport and the Harborplace & Gallery in Baltimore.
If you bought a condo in Dorchester, Roxbury or Mattapan in the past few years, you might as well have taken all that money, stuffed it into a bag and thrown it over the Longfellow bridge and into the Charles.
OK, is this really the best time to start targeting what has been one of the brightest stars of our state’s battered economy?
Maybe Boston will land that giant new FBI regional headquarters after all.
If downtown Boston is the old economy of financial services and law firm jobs, Cambridge is the capital of the new economy of biotech and tech firms, from fledging start-ups to international giants. But the reports from the headquarters of our economic future are distressing.
Usually when a Hub developer makes a “mistake,’’ it has the beneficial result of adding a few floors to the top of his tower.
Boston Properties is putting on ice construction of a nearly $1 billion Big Apple skyscraper.
The last recession unleashed a torrent of sublease space that wreaked havoc in downtown towers and in Rt. 128 office parks alike. In the wake of the the tech market collapse, a raft of companies dumped space directly on the market, bypassing building owners and landlords.
It’s a big story, a really big one. But you wouldn’t know it from the coverage it’s getting.
When it comes to the commercial real estate market, especially to the gleaming towers that are the pride of city skylines across the country, the downturn is just kicking into gear.
There sure are a lot of big development plans out there right now, but not a lot of actual building going on right now.
If it comes to the choice of killing more jobs in a bad economy or having a river so clean you can bend down and drink from it on a hot day, I’ll choose jobs.
The downtown Boston market has been flooded with new luxury condos over the past few years. For most people not making Wall Street-sized salaries, there has not been much to look at here. Now many of these units are sitting on the market, unsold and waiting for better times.
Investors may still be playing it cool when it comes to buying office towers. But they are starting to warm up once again to the idea of buying strip malls, power centers and other retail real estate, according to a new survey by Jones Lang LaSalle.
Forget about downtown Boston’s struggling luxury condo market. If you really want something to worry about, take a look at the city’s new crop of super-luxury hotels.
Well, things are certainly bad enough for that. But whether Congress and the country have the political will to dole out hundreds of billions more for another set of perceived fat-cats, this time rich office tower owners, is another question altogether. But if it’s just on the merits of the case, commercial real estate wins this rather grim contest hands down.
So the Sage family, after years of talks with just about every developer in town, has finally reeled in a big one.
Developers who build office towers and suburban complexes take note. As companies get lean and mean in a bid to survive the Great Recession, they are rethinking the way they use office space. And the conclusion, unfortunately for those in the development business, is that they need less, not more space.
Say hello to Stefan Frey, a principal at Commonwealth Commercial Advisors in Medfield and my guest blogger for today. Stefan takes a look at a question that is dogging lots of folks, and not just in comnmercial real estate. To be successful, we are also supposed to become social media fanatics, constantly posting, blogging and Twittering the day through. Wonderful. But who has the time? And, more importantly, does it work to bring in business?
Forget the flashy stuff. If you want to make a little money in some tough times, invest in a warehouse, or better yet, a new apartment building. That’s the recommendation of a new industry report that turns some traditional ideas about commercial real estate investing on their head.
Newly minted House Speaker Robert DeLeo is set to take center stage in this fall’s debate on Beacon Hill on whether to legalize Las Vegas style slot machines, industry insiders say.
There’s a stunning, $165 billion out there in loans on downtown towers across the country waiting to be refinanced, with few takers among our still shell shocked lenders. The potential for another major collapse, this time in the commercial real estate sector, clearly weighed on Fed officials in their confab recently.
Gov. Deval Patrick and top state lawmakers insist nothing’s going to happen until the fall, when there will be hearings and a vote on whether to finally open up the Bay State to casino gambling. But as these things go, many of the key details will have been already hammered out by then behind closed doors.
There have been few better investments in the past few years than real estate in some of the Bay State’s most exclusive suburbs and resorts.
Here’s a pretty big story that so far is not getting much traction. Harvard University President Drew Faust is announcing a year-long moratorium on further land purchases in Allston, the Harvard Crimson reports.
A mountain of new regulations aimed at forcing businesses to do everything from reengineer parking lots to buy expensive solar power could add billions in costs to already beleaguered businesses. So with the real estate market reeling, what better time to heap thousands in additional costs on the construction of new homes?
Looking at the grim numbers, I’m placing my money on a vacancy rate in downtown Boston that is well north of 20 percent before commercial real estate hits bottom. Right now, it’s already over 13 percent in top-shelf towers in the Financial District and the Back Bay, and the unemployment numbers just keep on rising.
The troubling trend of commercial properties going belly up appears to be picking up speed. The last few days have brought news of more towers hitting the foreclosure block, one here in Boston, the other in New York.
I am a big fan of small banks.
OK, so with a mayoral race in full swing, there’s more than enough hot air to go around.
It’s a potential train wreck that’s easy to see coming.
Don’t be fooled by all the talk from our top state leaders that the gambling debate is on the back burner until the fall.
Let just hope the Pike’s latest air-rights screw up will be its last.
It looks like the Turnpike has a new real estate chief.
If you thought downtown Boston rents were bad, think again.
With the economy at low ebb, it’s tough going for Boston area office landlords as they try and figure out where their next tenant is going to come from.
Here’s a shout out to Carl Koechlin.
I don’t know if Independence Wharf is jinxed. But after reading Paul McMorrow’s excellent story on the troubled waterfront high-rise in the June 22 issue of B&T I certainly have my suspicions.
It usually takes a while the office market to catch up with the economy.
It’s good to see Mayor Menino try to drum up interest in the ever growing array of empty storefronts along Newbury Street and the Fenway.
It’s not just office towers that are in trouble now. The hotel sector, which just a year or two ago looked indestructible, is now showing signs of stress as well.
The antics of the colorful International Place developer certainly make entertaining reading. Faced with staunch opposition from City Hall and influential neighbors, Chiofaro has taken to the streets, literally, to promote his bold plan to build a pair of twin towers overlooking the Greenway.
That’s the question I have reading about Mayor Thomas M. Menino’s push to boost Boston’s already high hotel room tax even higher.
The next couple of months could be huge for Bay State developers. In August, state environmental officials will release a proposal for tough new rules on storm-water runoff.
Poor John Hynes. The once star Boston developer certainly has his hands full.
The outlook for the downtown Boston tower market has been fairly gloomy.
That was my reaction after reading through Jones Lang LaSalle’s report on the dismal showing by the Boston office market in the second quarter. The second quarter saw one of the steepest rises in the office vacancy rate on record, according to a new report by Jones Lang LaSalle.
Just when gambling boosters at the State House finally appear to have the upper hand, along comes Foxwoods to spoil the party.
OK, now I feel a little better. I just finished looking at a report by CresaPartners on the battered Rt. 128 office market. Vacancy rates are edging towards the 20 percent market, rents are plunging and there’s 3.5 million square feet of empty space sitting on the market.
The downtown condo market looked all but invincible for so long. No longer. For my Commercial Interests column in this week’s B&T, I took a look at a survey of 13 new Boston condo projects by the PrimeTime Urban Report found just one sale per month.
Kevin Ahearn, the dean of the downtown condo market, offers an interesting counterpoint to my B&T column this week on the struggles of the downtown condo market.
Just a matter of a week or two after leaving the Sox payroll, Janet Marie Smith, the charismatic architect who helped save Fenway Park from the wrecking ball, has landed a new gig.
I am sure it was all just a big coincidence. But the timing of Fan Pier’s big lease deal, well that was certainly interesting.
Ever wonder what happened to all that tough talk out of City Hall last fall about grilling developers on financing? Recall the dark days of last October, with the stock market in free fall and the global financial system in meltdown mode.
Mortimer Zuckerman is best known around here as chairman of our hometown real estate giant, Boston Properties. But as owner of the New York Daily News, he is also a media mogul. And, judging from recent reports, a media mogul with a big appetite.
After decades of trying to gouge developers interested in building air-rights projects over the Turnpike in Boston, state officials are finally changing their tune.
Well, you have to hand it to the folks at CresaPartners. While most quarterly reports on the commercial real estate market are fairly tame, the ones Cresa churns are attention grabbers, to say the least. Check out this prediction by the downtown firm, which specializes in advising corporations on their real estate needs.
Well that’s what a newly released MIT survey on the commercial market suggests. Commercial properties, from office buildings to strip malls, posted a 4 percent price increase in the third quarter, according to an index put out by the MIT Center for Real Estate.
I never really got the idea that sleepy Plymouth was going to be the East Coast’s answer to Hollywood.
If you’re managing a law firm in downtown Boston, and you are looking for fancy new offices, now is your time. Of course, that is if you are not so busy trying to weather the economic storm that upgrading office space seems like a concern leftover from flush times.
OK, how about some common sense stimulus funding. I had modest hopes the federal government’s $787 billion stimulus package would at least provide a helpful nudge to our struggling economy. But my hope is turning to disgust as I read about where all the money is going – such as nearly $100,000 for a UMass study on ancient Icelandic pollen.
I certainly hope brighter days are ahead in 2010 for our battered commercial real estate market. With downtown vacancy rates soaring, the Hancock tower sold at foreclosure, and the national jobless rate heading into the double digits, it has been quite a year.
That’s what office market guru Sam Zell says. The Chicago billionaire made a fortune in the office market. He built a nationwide office tower empire with his Equity Office Properties Trust and then made a bundle selling it.
Boston’s commercial tax rate is poised to jump again. And that could mean higher tax bills for some downtown office tower owners, even as they struggle through one of the worst recessions in years.
The now decades long debate over casino gambling in Massachusetts has had more than its share of twist and turns.
Despite its name, the state convention authority is more closely aligned with City Hall than you think.
OK, don’t get your hopes up too much. The folks at the State House may be looking to give a break to the Bay State’s battered development industry, but we are definitely not talking about a tax break.
Maybe I am perverse to be worrying about the prospect of another housing price bubble right now.
A huge number of Boston area office towers and buildings are in some form of distress, with a number facing foreclosure, according to various surveys.
Hub tower developer John Hynes has probably shouldered more than this share of the blame for the Filene’s fiasco.
I love public parks as much as the next guy. But trying to ban all those nasty tower shadows from soiling the grounds of the new Greenway or Copley Square, well that seems a bit much.
The collapse of the South Station development deal may have come as a shock to some. But this is one proposal that had been rotting quietly for quite some time.
Another day, another grand development scheme bites the dust. I just finished chatting with Ted Tye, a top executive over at National Development, which bought the Boston Herald building a few years ago.
OK, so the downtown Boston office market is still pretty depressed, though the rate of decline has slowed considerably, Jones Lang LaSalle reports in its latest market survey.
Maybe there’s hope yet for Filene’s and some of the Boston’s other white elephant development projects stalled for lack of financing.
OK, if it ever gets built, the long-planned, 105 story skyscraper at ground zero of the World Trade Center site will certainly be a blockbuster. But after years of debate and inaction, the long-delayed Freedom Tower, now simply called 1 World Trade Center, is seen by many in the commercial real estate business as a white elephant.
You can forget about the pie-in-the-sky plan to build a $500 million-plus movie making complex in Plymouth.
A tidal wave of subprime home and condo mortgages gone bad came close to toppling some of our biggest banks in the days and weeks after September 2008. Now commercial real estate is increasingly looming large as the economy’s new problem child.
Everyone may simply have their eye on the wrong ball. Clearly, the passing of Sen. Edward Kennedy has had a huge impact on the nation’s health care debate, though not exactly in the way the late senator would have envisioned.
As I noted recently in my Commercial Interests column for B&T, the FBI is looking seriously at building its long-planned regional headquarters over in South Boston. After several years checking out sites in Southie and in some of the suburbs and cities that ring the Hub, the FBI is focusing on a site controlled by the Pappas development family.
Looks like I’m in good company in going to bat for our state’s promising but embattled film and TV industry. My B&T column Monday argued state officials are on the wrong track as they seek to slash in half a film industry tax credit that has brought a bevy of Hollywood productions into the state and pumped hundreds of millions into the local economy.
We all know that Liberty Mutual will get a pretty nice city tax break in exchange for expanding its long-time Boston headquarters. But here’s the other piece to that deal, and it makes it even sweeter – the tax increment financing agreement also entitles the insurer to millions more in state tax benefits.
Simply put, not well right now when compared to many other cities across the country. The Hub is emerging as a leader of sorts in the nation’s office market. But let’s just say the categories it is a standout are not so hot, according to data culled from the just released, Jones Lang LaSalle North American Occupiers Report.
Spring is around the corner. And with it are some hopeful signs the worst of the real estate downturn may be finally over for Hub neighborhoods that have borne the brunt of the bad times.
House Speaker Robert DeLeo is finally showing his cards when it comes to legalizing expanded gambling in the Bay State.
In normal times, developers push hard to get local and state approvals as fast as possible. Time is money and delays in construction can prove costly.
Sorry if I sound like a cheerleader today. Let’s just say that is somewhat out of character for me.But really, there is no other way of saying this. Hub Mayor Thomas M. Menino completely outfoxed one of the Big Apple’s (supposedly) shrewdest and most powerful developers.