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Re: The Boston Arch (Aquarium parking garage) ^^ Right - Russia Wharf etc are in the Fort Point Waterfront area, not the Downtown Waterfront area. Name me one major "pliability" in the Downtown (or North End) Waterfront area since they've been put in place less than 20 years ago. Again, galling...

Re: The Boston Arch (Aquarium parking garage) ^^^ Joebos, for whom have the rules been pliable on the Downtown Waterfront in the past 40 years? And Rifleman, are you suggesting that the valuation of the garage should be $155 million? After all, the assessor is supposed to assess properties at...

Re: The Boston Arch (Aquarium parking garage) ^^^ GW2500, you said something interesting: "No one harps on details like this unless you don't want to see it built." To the contrary, those who DO want to see it get built would be well-advised to harp on details like this. It is precisely your...

Re: The Boston Arch (Aquarium parking garage) ^^ Agreed....I just think the dialogue would be elevated a bit if the folks on the board had the facts, since it seems that many peoples' opinion of the Chiofaro/Pru project are tainted by not having all the relevant facts or by buying into the...

Re: The Boston Arch (Aquarium parking garage) ^^ For those of you keeping score at home, back to Rifleman's original question....there was no height limit under the old B-8 zoning on the waterfront that pre-dated the Harborpark zoning of 1991, so it's not like the BRA made some kind of special...

Re: The Boston Arch (Aquarium parking garage) ^^ Rifleman, I'm not a big-mouth but you asked for it: The zoning on the Harbor Garage site was 155' when Don/Pru bought it. That zoning was put in place in 1991 to prevent future Harbor Towers from being built - at one point in the 1970s, there...

Re: The Boston Arch (Aquarium parking garage) ^^ KentXie, There are now 38 million square feet of development projects permitted in the city of Boston. I don't think we have any problem with developers being "scared" of doing projects here.

Re: The Boston Arch (Aquarium parking garage) ^^ Sicilian, There is some validity to your perspective, but keep in mind that the waterfront area was actually re-zoned in the 1990s pursuant to a planning study - the Harborpark Plan - and developments in the downtown/North End waterfront have...

Re: The Boston Arch (Aquarium parking garage) ^^ Stellar, well said. It's also worth pointing out that the Don permitted IP over 20 years ago (the last thing the Chiofaro Company ever permitted in Boston), Article 80 didn't exist, and it wasn't a waterfront site so the state's Chapter 91 laws...

Re: The Boston Arch (Aquarium parking garage) ^^Rifleman, you say: "Why would Chiofaro follow the process of the BRA?" Answer: Because the BRA is - like it or not - the development review agency of the city of Boston, and the process for getting projects approved is very clearly written in law...

Re: The Boston Arch (Aquarium parking garage) ^^ Rifleman, there are condo spaces currently available at Folio, right across the street from the garage, for $75,000 and there have been no takers for a long time if you look at the days-on-market...and that's just 2 or 3 spaces. Good luck trying...

Re: The Boston Arch (Aquarium parking garage) ^^KentXie, it's time for a lesson in real estate economics, 2010-style. The way that Don could build at 200 feet is if his partner Prudential agrees to do what the majority of other institutional investors in the good ol' US of A have done in the...

Re: The Boston Arch (Aquarium parking garage) KentXie, What's that about a 200-foot tower being too short to turn a profit? If that's the case it's only the case because they paid too much for the Harbor Garage...heck, the developer of Battery Wharf managed to (almost) turn a profit at 55...

Re: The Boston Arch (Aquarium parking garage) ^^ Rifleman, you're sounding like the economic development director for Flint Michigan or Gary Indiana - i.e. "it will create taxes and jobs so we should do it." Fortunatey, we're in Boston, where the whole reason the city does so well is that its...

Re: The Boston Arch (Aquarium parking garage) ^^ Except that many tenants move because they need less space and shed jobs. All I'm saying is that spec office buildings don't create jobs. They might cannibalize other office buildings in town of their tenants, but they don't create jobs, other...

Re: The Boston Arch (Aquarium parking garage) ^^Yes, absolutely - remember a few years back when Don tried to get the assessed value of IP slashed? All of those numbers that Don's PR guy fed the Phoenix are inflated - 3,800 permanent jobs "created"? Really? Last time I checked, speculative...

Re: Liberty Mutual plans major Boston expansion ^^ Fair points, but... 1. Vornado hasn't asked for a TIF or demonstrated that it would make their project viable. Ball's in their court to do so. 2. Chiofaro hasn't actually submitted a variance application or a PDA application so how can you...

Re: Liberty Mutual plans major Boston expansion Rifleman, the city doesn't give "tax breaks" to hospitals. They and all other non-profits are exempt from taxation not just by the city, but the state and the feds as well - that's a specious argument you make. And I don't understand how a TIF...

Re: Liberty Mutual plans major Boston expansion Interesting article - she's dead wrong about PDAs though, lots of PDAs around town include existing buildings that were rehabbed as part of the project. And my recollection is that this was a TIF - which is not a "Tax Break" from the city's...

Re: The Boston Arch (Aquarium parking garage) Rifleman, you say "At this point I would auction off the parking spaces for 150K a pop in a 99 year lease and completely fuck the city and the Greenway." That seems a little self-important, wouldn't you say? I mean, the garage has been there since...