Downtown Crossing/Financial District | Discussion

Agenda item on Thursdays BRA meeting: Request authorization to issue a Certificate of Termination for the One Summer Street Chapter 121A Project which consists of renovations to the Macy’s Department Store; and, to take all related actions.


Can someone translate for me? Are they finally redoing Macy's?
 
is somebody planning to redevelop that block into a skyscraper?
 
I'd be really unhappy if someone proposed tearing those buildings down for a glass box.
 
I'd be totally fine if that block got the Atlantic Wharf/Hearst Tower treatment. Perfectly handsome facades worth preserving.
 
Just because a building is bought/sold, doesn't necessarily mean it will be redeveloped...right?
 
I was thinking that but it wasn't bought by a real estate portfolio company. It was bought by a developer. But who knows?
 
statler said:
I was thinking that but it wasn't bought by a real estate portfolio company. It was bought by a developer. But who knows?
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Bentall Kennedy is a real estate investment advisorory company. NewTower is a non-depository trust company specializing in real estate investment. Sure, they might have some development syndicates, but I my initial hunch is that this is just a real estate investment.
 
Ah, Ok. Thanks. I don't really know much about these companies. I was fixated on this line:
Bentall Kennedy is also a developer of the proposed Harrison Albany Block project in the South End.
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617 said:
Agenda item on Thursdays BRA meeting: Request authorization to issue a Certificate of Termination for the One Summer Street Chapter 121A Project which consists of renovations to the Macy’s Department Store; and, to take all related actions.


Can someone translate for me? Are they finally redoing Macy's?
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No, it's the opposite. The 1975-approved consolidation of Jordan Marsh/(later Macy*s) into level B1, 1, & 2 (in anticipation of Lafayette Place) & the conversion of Jordan Marsh levels 3-6 + addition of levels 7-8 into the One Summer St telecom offices/(now server farm) above are complete and the project/its urban development corporation (established under MGL C121A) is receiving its Certificate of Termination terminating the urban development corporation's rights to make renovations under that agreement because the 40-year term has expired.

http://boston.siretechnologies.com/...haqr24ndbydajc5kk/17634706092016095822866.PDF

PROJECT BACKGROUND
The One Summer Street Chapter 121A project (the “Project”) is located off of Washington Street at the corner of Summer Street in the Downtown Crossing area of Boston. The Project consisted of the renovation of the Macy’s Department Store building (approximately 400,000 square feet of retail and 718,000 square feet of office use) and addition of approximately 75,000 square feet by adding two additional stories
for the consolidation of the operations of Macy’s into the sub-basement, basement, first and second floors, and for office use on floors 3 through 8 primarily for businesses focused on the telecommunications industry.

The One Summer Street Chapter 121A Project is authorized by the Boston Redevelopment Authority (the “Authority”) under Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 121A and under Chapter 652 of the Acts of 1960, both as amended (collectively, “Chapter 121A”) pursuant to the following prior actions:

1. Report and Decision on the Application of the Al-Jordan Realty Corporation for the Authorization and Approval of a Project under Chapter 121A to be undertaken and carried out by the Applicant, and First Amendment thereto,
approved by the Authority on May 1, 1975, and further approved by the Mayor of the City of Boston (the “Mayor”) on May 16, 1975, as filed with the Boston City Clerk (the “Clerk”) on May 21, 1975;

2. Request for Second Amendment to Application dated March 31, 1975 of AlJordan Corp. for the Authorization and Approval of a Project under Chapter 121A to be undertaken and carried out by the Applicant, approved by the Authority on June 12, 1975, and further approved by the Mayor on July 17, 1975, as filed with the Clerk on July 28, 1975 (approving an amendment to the Minimum Standards for Financing, Construction, Maintenance and Management of the Existing Project);

3. Request for Third Amendment to Application dated March 31, 1975 of Al-Jordan Realty Corp. for the Authorization and Approval of a Project under Chapter 121A to be undertaken and carried out by the Applicants, approved by the Authority on October 23, 1975, and further approved by the Mayor on
December 30, 1975, as filed with the Clerk on December 30, 1975 (approving the issuance of additional shares of the capital stock of the applicant, thereby
approving total capitalization of $6,000,000);

4. Request for Fourth Amendment to Application dated March 31, 1975 of AlJordanRealty Corp. for the Authorization and Approval of a Project under Chapter 121A to be undertaken and carried out by the Applicants, approved by the Authority on December 9, 1976, and further approved by the Mayor on December 17, 1976, as filed with the Clerk on December 21, 1976 (approving an increase in the total cost of the Existing Project to $34,000,000);

5. Fifth Amendment to Report and Decision on the Application of Al-Jordan Realty Corp. for the Authorization and Approval of a Project under Chapter 121A, approved by the Authority on May 29, 1979, and further approved by the Mayor on June 1, 1979, as filed with the Clerk on June 1, 1979 (approving the elimination from the Project Area of the former Avon Street in connection with the conveyance of the so-called Annex Building to the City of Boston for incorporation into the site of Lafayette Place);

6. Sixth Amendment to Report and Decision on Authorization and Approval of a Project under Chapter 121A to be undertaken and carried out by the Applicant, approved by the Authority on November 19, 1987, and further approved by the Mayor on December 8, 1987, as filed with the Clerk on December 11, 1987 (approving a loan in the amount of $36,000,000 to be secured by the Existing Project);

7. Seventh Amendment entitled, Report and Decision on the Application by One Summer LLP for Authorization and Approvals to Acquire an Existing Project under Chapter 121A of the General Laws of the Commonwealth of
Massachusetts and Chapter 652 of the Acts of 1960, each as amended, and for Approval of the Seventh Amendment to Report and Decision approved by the Authority on June 25, 1998, and further approved by the Mayor on June 30, 1998, as filed with the Clerk on June 30, 1998 (approving the transfer of the Project to One Summer LLP and approving certain renovations and adjustment in use to allow for approximately 400,000 square feet of retail and 718,000 square feet of office use above);

8. Eighth Amendment entitled, Report and Decision on the Application by MSP One Summer Street LLP for Authorization and Approval to Acquire an Existing Project Under Chapter 121A of the General Laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and Chapter 652 of the Acts of 1960, each as amended, and for Approval of the Eighth Amendment to Report and Decision, approved by the Authority on March 16, 1999 and further approved by the Mayor on April 2, 1999, as filed with the Clerk on April 6, 1999, authorizing the redevelopment of the existing Macy’s Department Store building in Downtown Crossing (approving the transfer of the Project to MSP One Summer Street LLP and approving a “Revised Project,” which consolidated the operations of Macy’s into the portions of the sub-basement, basement, first and second floors of the existing building, and converted floors 3 through 8 (the “Office Premises”) for office use primarily by companies whose business is focused in the telecommunications industry (the “Eighth Amendment”); and

9. Ninth Amendment to Report and Decision on the Application of Al-Jordan Realty Corporation for the Authorization and Approval of a Project under Massachusetts General Laws (Ter. Ed) Chapter 121A, as amended, and Chapter 652 of the Acts of 1960, as amended, to be undertaken and carried out by the Applicant, approved by the Authority on September 21, 1999, and further approved by the Mayor on December 21, 1999, as filed with the Clerk on December 23, 1999 (approving an increase of 75,000 square feet to the Revised Project through the addition of two additional stories (the “Office Addition”) on top of the two-story portion of the existing Macy’s building).

CERTIFICATE OF PROJECT TERMINATION
When initially approved, the Project had a base term of 40 years. The Project was to terminate under Chapter 121A on January 1, 2016. Markley One Summer Street, LLP, the successor-in-interest to MSP One Summer Street LLP, and the City of Boston Assessing Department are requesting that the Authority approve a termination date of December 31, 2015, for purposes of eliminating a so-called gap period to cover the time period from the termination of the Project under Chapter 121A to when the Project shall become taxable under General Laws Chapter 59, as amended.
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Well I hope Macy's does something...the interior and especially exterior all in need of some tlc and updating...looks very tired for an anchor
 
617 said:
Well I hope Macy's does something...the interior and especially exterior all in need of some tlc and updating...looks very tired for an anchor
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Macy's looks terribly dark and dingy. Even their logo/sign is gross when it's lit up at night.
 
cjbski said:
Macy's looks terribly dark and dingy. Even their logo/sign is gross when it's lit up at night.
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I remember hearing that, per square foot, it is one of, if not the highest grossing Macy's in the United States. Can anyone confirm? Not sure if that makes an eventual renovation of the outside more or less likely.
 
I remember reading that the Men's department here is the busiest in the country even busier than the Herald Square Macy's Men's Department.
 
BosDevelop said:
I remember hearing that, per square foot, it is one of, if not the highest grossing Macy's in the United States. Can anyone confirm? Not sure if that makes an eventual renovation of the outside more or less likely.
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I doubt it's relevant at all. They're the very minority tenant in a building that's overwhelming use--the top 6 or 7 floors, with Macy's only occupying the first 2 floors--is dedicated to servicing inanimate objects (servers) which by definition only "care" about the exact criteria the server engineers calibrated them for. The only way a renovation becomes more likely is if Macy's and the landlord tear up the current rent agreement and start over from scratch...
 
And why does that prevent Macy's from renovating the first two floors that they are using for their store?
 
citylover94 said:
And why does that prevent Macy's from renovating the first two floors that they are using for their store?
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You're right, of course, technically it doesn't at all unless something in the lease expressly forbids it, I suppose.

But they're a tenant. So any really nice renovation to bring it up to par to what *it deserves to be* for New England's busiest most profitable Macy's, maybe they're anxious thinking that makes the landlord greedy and want to do a massive rent escalation or something, now that the space is so much nicer. Especially now that retail is *back* in DTC with Primark, Forever 21, GAP, etc., and in theory other massive retailers of Primark's ilk might be eyeing the space if Macy's gets tired of it.

Point being: It'd be much simpler if they were the landlord, of course.

Anyway, does the interior even need a renovation these days? Recently it's been gleaming, immaculate, orderly, no clothes or filth strewn anywhere like it used to be a few years back.

If the interior is simply nice, then does it matter that the exterior is still Fortress Doom? We shouldn't muddle or perception of the forbidding exterior with a nice--if not necessarily "cutting-edge" interior.
 
DBM said:
I doubt it's relevant at all. They're the very minority tenant in a building that's overwhelming use--the top 6 or 7 floors, with Macy's only occupying the first 2 floors--is dedicated to servicing inanimate objects (servers) which by definition only "care" about the exact criteria the server engineers calibrated them for. The only way a renovation becomes more likely is if Macy's and the landlord tear up the current rent agreement and start over from scratch...
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DBM -- not going to happen the Landlord of the whole thing is Markley -- the the one and same Server host company with their Million sq ft of very variable space from where Macy's ends up to and including the rooftop
 
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