Boston Conservatory of Music | 132 Ipswich St | Fenway

[stellarfun]

Re: Boston Conservatory of Music buys 132 Ipswich St

Right. Because real estate development around Fenway Park is not profitable right now. That Samuels is such a saint...

Sometimes it helps to read the first page of the thread which covers BCM's purchase of the site in 2012. Was on the market for years, but apparently nobody wanted to pay all that much for it.

 

[Brad Plaid]

Re: Boston Conservatory of Music buys 132 Ipswich St

Not to be underestimated is the likely influence of John Henry on back room pressuring of the BRA/City Hall into making sure any development on this site was small. The Red Sox played a huge role in killing off the original Fenway Center towers proposal on Lansdowne claiming a large development with field views would "ruin" the Fenway Park experience. In reality the Sox didn't want lots of people in those towers watching games for free.

 

[AmericanFolkLegend]

Re: Boston Conservatory of Music buys 132 Ipswich St

Sometimes it helps to read the first page of the thread which covers BCM's purchase of the site in 2012. Was on the market for years, but apparently nobody wanted to pay all that much for it.

But eventually BoCo did for a 3-story building. They decided it was worth it to them. So that's a sunk cost.
So anything else that they build in addition to the 3-story building (either themselves or in conjunction with a private developer) doesn't need to be profitable in relation to the price they paid for the land. It just needs to be profitable relative to the construction and financing costs of the additional building.
Obviously BoCo felt it was more important to them to have a single tenant, fully owned building for whatever reason. I just go back to the fact that there's an opportunity cost associated with that for BoCo. And there's a lost opportunity for the city when a plot zoned for 8 stories in Boston proper gets a 3 story building owned by a tax-exempt entity.