Columbus Center: RIP | Back Bay

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South End NIMBY stands victoriously before his spoils.
 
There is no victory for anyone. Boston doesn't get its canyon stitched up, the community do not gain anything. A total loss. All from the hands of a handful of people.
 
Boston Metro - March 23, 2010
Can Columbus Center neighbors take a breath?
Now that Columbus Center is dead, the question is can neighbors stomach another development proposal anytime soon?

The lease for the 35-floor skyscraper to be built over the MassPike near Back Bay Station was recently terminated by MassDOT, ending a 13-year nightmare for neighbors. And the project?s main backer, the California State Pension Fund (Calpers) said the $800 million mega-complex is no longer economically feasible.

Now some say another development process should begin immediately, possibly with four smaller proposals. Ned Flaherty, a South End urban planning activist who opposed public subsidies for Columbus Center, however, is calling for a one-year ?cooling off period? after the site is restored to its preconstruction state.

?The healthy thing is to take a breather, start fresh,? Flaherty said. ?It?s hard to start fresh if we still have indigestion from this thing.?

Peter Pogorski, who lives 20 feet from the site, also isn?t sure he can stomach more ?false starts? but said it is a good time to build.

?Or organize the process because the economy will rebound,? he said. ?There isn?t a lot of construction now so there?s an advantage to getting started in a down cycle.?

State officials hope to hold a community meeting this spring to gauge the neighborhoods? mood.

?We?ll take our cues from the community,? said Peter O?Connor, head of real estate for the MassDOT. ?Before we take the plunge back in we gotta have a plan in place. I can?t revive Columbus Center. We heard Calpers say that project has no future.?
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Vindication, at a cost

Ned Flaherty, a South End urban planning activist who opposed public subsidies for Columbus Center over the last 13 years, said the project's recent collapse is a bittersweet vindication.

"It's one of those things that I can say 'I was right,' I can say 'I told you so' but I didn't want it to end this way," he said. "I started saying in 1996 Columbus Center would end exactly the way it did.

"I do feel vindicated. A former secretary of transportation called me and said 'Good job Ned, you were right all along.'"
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$5M cleanup remains

Columbus Center developers will give the state their remaining assets ($2 million) to restore the former construction site. But while the state lawyers try to siphon the remaining $3 million from developers ? California State Pension Fund and Boston?s Winn Cos. ? it will take to complete the restoration, state officials are moving forward with the project.

Peter O?Connor, head of real estate for MassDOT, said the site is a safety hazard and will be clean by summer?s end.

?I?m still trying to understand why there was no remedy available to us, why there was no letter of credit or performance bond in place to give us another source of funds to clean up the site,? O?Connor said.
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I always love it when I earn the right to pat myself on the back.
 
"But Clarendon Street resident Ned Flaherty, an urban planning activist who has followed the construction-or lack thereof-since its inception, said he wouldn?t mind a large construction project, as long as it followed the "master plan" guidelines provided in the Turnpike Air Rights Civic Vision written in 2000."
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Ned Flaherty, you are truly an ass-hole.
 
I won't dignify him by saying he made the difference, but Ned Flaherty did do his best to harm Boston's rational and normal growth. His legacy will fester like a pustule for decades.
 
Likewise, stifled development makes this board pointless.
 
Now, if "somehow" "somebody" will come out with enough READY cash to build this project, but ask for "few" changes, like a taller tower, will the city give the OK or "more local" NIMBY will try to stop it and give hard time?
If it's a matter of money and that part will be solved "by a miracle investor", what going to happen?
 
WISERPAK said:
Now, if "somehow" "somebody" will come out with enough READY cash to build this project, but ask for "few" changes, like a taller tower, will the city give the OK or "more local" NIMBY will try to stop it and give hard time?
If it's a matter of money and that part will be solved "by a miracle investor", what going to happen?
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The risk is not worth the reward at this point. I would rather just keep my cash under my mattress.
 
I've been meaning to post this for a couple of years. How come no one has asked how did a small time politically connected developer of subsidized housing get to be the developer of a huge $800 million project? There is nothing in his past that would make it conceivable that he could pull this off. I'm also old enough to remember when this project consisted of a lone 12 story building.
 
THIS things was showing U piples wAs all WRoNG and MR NED FF is RITE in ure end

MR Ned RULES
 
PaulC, how is this any different than John Rosenthal (if any)? He's done few big developments but is now ready to build multi-million (billion?) project in The Fenway?
 
This does not justify Mr Ed's argument, at all. He was against the project because his view would be affected and because of the public subsidies; I don't remember anything about accusations of payoffs or worse.
 
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