Columbus Center: RIP | Back Bay

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Re: Columbus Center

What is the construction schedule?

Pre-construction is wrapping up in December 2007. Full construction should begin in mid-December or early January 2008. It takes approximately two years to build the decks that cover the Turnpike and two years to build the buildings (or super-structure). However, there is some overlap to this schedule. For example, Parcel 16?s deck will be completed first. Thus, the super structure will start going up on 16 before it does on 17 or 18.



Construction occurs in five phases:

* Site preparation: 3 months
* Early utilities: 12 months
* Deep foundations: 8 months
* Excavations and foundations: 8 months
* Deck and tunnels: 13 months
* Superstructure and finishes: 24 months


http://www.columbuscenter.com/faq
 
Re: Columbus Center

this is an email on the south end forum:

Apart from the fact that many of us know what "guarantees" from these
developers mean (such as the guarantee that they would not ask for
public money), this will open the way for still more taxpayer money to
be used to subsidize a luxury hotel and over 400 condos that by
definition are unaffordable for most residents of the greater Boston
area, let alone for the victims of this incredibly oversize
development. It's also worth noting that this "guarantee" is only to
cover the deck, even if the developers later decide to abandon the housing.

And not for the first time do I want to point out that not a single
unit of housing -- not ONE -- not even among the unaffordable units --
is suitable for a couple who wants to bring up a son and daughter in the
city.

The units might have been more affordable if the developer hadn't been squeezed for so many community give aways. These cost are never absorbed by the developer.
 
Re: Columbus Center

I hate to be the one to post this but...

Columbus Center hits another snag

By Thomas C. Palmer Jr.
Globe Staff / March 22, 2008

The Massachusetts Turnpike Authority has put on hold the air-rights lease it negotiated recently with the developers of the troubled Columbus Center project - yet another delay in a process that already has taken 11 years.

Although the authority did not specify why it halted the approval process late in the game, the move apparently resulted from uncertainty about the status of state funds that WinnDevelopment and its California partners in the project have counted on.

The developer has asked for the right to delay construction, and the lease would have to be renegotiated to allow that.

Columbus Center is an $800 million hotel, residential, retail, and parking garage project planned for a deck over the turnpike on four blocks, between Clarendon and Tremont streets at the border of the South End and the Back Bay.

The project is already in early stages of construction, even though a plan to provide construction financing fell through last year and no new lender has been found.

"Due to intervening circumstances, the authority is hereby withdrawing its submission," Turnpike Authority private counsel Michael S. Sophocles of Choate Hall & Steward LLP wrote Thursday to the Metropolitan Highway System Advisory Board, which was reviewing the lease that was agreed to just late last month.

While the review by the board and its staff at the Metropolitan Area Planning Council is something of a formality, the sudden withdrawal could cast serious doubt on the project.

The developer, WinnDevelopment of Boston, and its senior partner, the California Public Employees' Retirement System, need "additional clarification on how and when the state funding already earmarked for the project will kick in," said Alan Eisner, a spokesman for WinnDevelopment.

The California pension system invests in real estate but recently balked at a large project in Los Angeles, according to the Los Angeles Times, saying it had spent enough on certain types of real estate projects.

In general, financing large real estate projects has become extremely difficult since the subprime mortgage loan meltdown started last summer.

One of the major recent sources of concern about Columbus Center relates to $20 million in job-creation grants that the developers applied for, and an additional $15 million in MassHousing loans. The state approved $10 million of the jobs money but has not made a decision on the second $10 million.

Critics of the project argue that neither the job grant nor the housing money is appropriate for a project that has as its centerpiece a luxury hotel and condominiums.

The developers maintain they never pledged not to make use of public funds that are available, especially as the cost of the project has risen from about $350 million to $800 million since it was first proposed in 1997.

Turnpike officials said yesterday they have made no decision on allowing a delay.

One state official, who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to speak about turnpike matters, said the developer asked for a delay of up to a year and a half.

Negotiations over a construction delay could be complicated and prolonged, because the lease required milestones in the construction process and financial guarantees of $270 million that the deck over the turnpike roadway would be completed.

"We remain committed to making sure this development brings economic development and jobs benefits to the Commonwealth," said turnpike spokesman Mac Daniel. "We will not bring it to the board until we are confident it will accomplish the goals of both the turnpike and the state."

The turnpike board had approved the previously negotiated lease and sent it to the advisory board for review. It then would have gone to Governor Deval Patrick to be signed.

The Turnpike Authority has not yet acted on the revised lease.

http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2008/03/22/columbus_center_hits_another_snag/
 
Re: Columbus Center

Not clear from the article whether this involves the buildings that would go on top of the deck, or the deck itself. I have to think Winn et al had/have enough financing in hand to build the deck, else they would not have started the construction. I would also think that the steel for the deck has already been ordered, given the lead time for steel. These are almost certainly custom fabricated girders which cannot be used anywhere else. The added cost to Winn to suspend and re-start deck construction would be pretty high, maybe even as much as the amount of state grants they are seeking.
 
Re: Columbus Center

This is the reason Boston sucks sometimes. If this was any other city, Columbus Center would go up no problem. But why do Boston officials have to question and make an issue out of every little thing ... until ultimately the project dies.

"We remain committed to making sure this development brings economic development and jobs benefits to the Commonwealth,"

Does anyone else cringe whenever the word "commonwealth" is used to describe Massachusetts? It makes me feel like part of a cult following sometimes lol. When state officials say that something is "for the good of the commonwealth" it makes me feel like we're back in the 1630's with John Winthrop starting a "beacon of hope". Can't they just say, "the state of Massachusetts"?
 
Re: Columbus Center

^^ Not get off topic, but Massachusetts is defined as a Commonwealth in our Constitution.
But I suppose if it bothers you they can just pass an amendment.
 
Re: Columbus Center

Given current market trends I'd be surprised if this project really goes anywhere within the next few year. Or if it does get built it might be scaled way back.
 
Re: Columbus Center

I'd rather see it get cancelled than scaled back. If we can't have the existing plans in the current market then they should wait until things turn over in half a decade or more (haha) and build up even higher.
 
Re: Columbus Center

Given current market trends I'd be surprised if this project really goes anywhere within the next few year. Or if it does get built it might be scaled way back.

So do you feel similarly about other big projects that have yet to break ground in Boston?

You might do Columbus Center in phases, do parcels 16 and 17 to start, followed later by 18 and 19. I think 19 is the small park. Whether 18 and 19 ever become economical to develop separately becomes an open question. The density is concentrated on 16 and 17, and I think the cost of the deck for 18 and 19 would make low-rise or mid-rise uneconomical as a separate development.
 
Re: Columbus Center

Not just projects in Boston but all over. There was an article in the NY Times yesterday about how the extremely controversial Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn is going to have to be scaled back.

Individual buildings that are under construction now will be built but giant projects like NorthPoint probably aren't going anywhere for a while. Same with the South Bay/Gateway project.
 
Re: Columbus Center

Does anyone else cringe whenever the word "commonwealth" is used to describe Massachusetts? It makes me feel like part of a cult following sometimes lol. When state officials say that something is "for the good of the commonwealth" it makes me feel like we're back in the 1630's with John Winthrop starting a "beacon of hope". Can't they just say, "the state of Massachusetts"?

From Wikipedia:
The English noun commonwealth dates from the fifteenth century. The original phrase "common wealth" or "the common weal" comes from the old meaning of "wealth" which is "well-being". The term literally meant "common well-being". Thus commonwealth originally meant a state or nation-state governed for the common good as opposed to an authoritarian state governed for the benefit of a given class of owners. The word was a calque on the Latin phrase res publica meaning "public affairs" or "the state", from which the English word republic arises.


There are only four states that refer to themselves as a commonweath in the US, they are:
Massachusetts
Pennsylvania
Virginia
Kentucky
 
Re: Columbus Center

I wouldn't. What's wrong with building it in stages over a number of years? People are too impatient on this forum.

I am not necessarily impatient I just like steady progress. Building a development in parts - albeit 'steady progress' in the eyes of some - I see it as a crappy way to develop. If something is going to be done, it should be done all at once. Not over the course of 5-10 years when it should take 1-2.
 
Re: Columbus Center

Don't forget that it'll take around two years to build the platform, which I hope should give Winn enough time to ride out today's market turmoil.
 
Re: Columbus Center

I'm going to pretend this story isn't true.


They are still working at the site, correct? :)
 
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