Hub development star faces global challenges
Poor John Hynes.
The once star Boston developer certainly has his hands full.
The meltdown of the Filene’s project, which was to have been the crown jewel of a reborn Downtown Crossing, is bad enough. Instead of a gleaming new tower and retail complex we are left with a bombed out block, circa Berlin, 1945.
But now Hynes is facing serious challenge on this other ventures as well.
It wasn’t long ago that Hynes was talking about building a new neighborhood, complete with its own school and arts complex, on a swath of windswept parking lots next to Fan Pier and South Boston’s waterfront.
But that project looks increasingly tenuous, with one of his top investment partners, Morgan Stanley, slammed with big losses from big bets in the now unraveling commercial real estate sector. The bank recently reported a $700 million write-down on the value of its once prized commercial property portfolio.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the world in South Korea, Hynes and Gale International are scrambling to avoid a potentially embarrassing meltdown of the epic New Songdo City project.
Construction has stopped mid-stream on a 68-story tower that is the centerpiece of the vastly ambitious, $68 billion planned city. A number of investors have pulled out, citing fears that new government rules regulating the sale of condos would dampen sales interest in the skyscrapers top floors.
I guess it’s the downside of having sky-high ambitions – when things go wrong they really go wrong in a big way.