Another Turnpike Development Fiasco
Let just hope the Pike’s latest air-rights screw up will be its last.
City Councilor Michael Ross throws a well deserved rock at the Turnpike Authority for effectively shelving plans to develop a lucrative series of air-rights parcels near the Prudential Center, the Herald reports.
Of course, then again, what’s new.
The Turnpike has been hurting for cash for years now.
But I would need three or four blog items to detail thoroughly the stunning series of air-rights fiascos committed by the authority that gave us the Big Dig.
One particular development mess, though, comes to mind.
Matt Amorello, back when he ran the highway authority, came up with a cockeyed plan to build a new, skyline topping tower off Kneeland Street where the Big Dig headquarters was located.
The Turnpike spent a lot of time talking up plans for a new neighborhood, with hopes of getting as much as $200 million from a developer who would take the bait.
Of course, only one bidder turned up – a local development company that had never built a tower, let alone a megadevelopment like that.
Meanwhile, as Amorello was spinning these silly development fantasies, real developers with money were lining up, checkbooks in hand, eager to bid on Turnpike owned development parcels near North Station.
They sat waiting, though, for a couple years. At least one resorted to hiring a local lobbying firm to get things moving.
When the Pike was finally ready to move, it wound up making millions from these sites.
Of course, it didn’t get a dime for its silly sky-rise plan everyone has since forgotten, Southgate or something like that.
So maybe it’s time to stop complaining about the Turnpike’s pathetic handling of what could have been a golden goose and look to Plan B.
Granted, air-rights can be tricky. But then again, what do you think the Prudential Center and the Hancock tower garage are then? But somehow both projects managed to get built over the highway decades ago under different leadership.
It’s time to turn these projects over to someone else – City Hall and the Boston Redevelopment Authority come to mind.