Boston Mayor Marty Walsh’s pro-housing agenda delivered benefits to the city but critics say Walsh missed opportunities to make development more equitable and address the transportation and climate change crises.
A high-rise hotel is proposed for the Hook Lobster pound property on Boston Harbor, where developers earlier had planned to build a multifamily tower.
Massachusetts’ two-month-old ban on public gatherings upended a hidebound real estate development review process that included a steady dose of community forums and public hearings in overflowing meeting rooms.
The kickoff of formal review of a 865,000-square-foot office and residential tower at what developer Chiofaro Co. describes as “Boston’s front door to the world” is rekindling the battle over building heights on Boston Harbor.
“Not in my backyard” could be the state motto in Massachusetts, where major real estate developments routinely endure costly legal challenges. The Chiofaro Co.’s proposed 600-foot mixed-use tower at the Harbor Garage site near the New England Aquarium in Boston is an example.
A judge’s ruling in a high-stakes dispute over proposed new zoning will keep a pair of major Boston waterfront developments on the drawing boards rather than closer to groundbreaking.
Celtics fans watching a recent national broadcast might have been distracted from slam dunks and pick and rolls by a startling sight: what appeared to be an orange halo of flames shooting from the top of Boston’s 11th-tallest building.
