Downtown Crossing/Financial District | Discussion

I wouldn't say the district is totally DYSfunctional either, but it needs a coordinated effort to fill vacant storefronts, either permanently or temporarily. (Making it the "pop-up storefront zone" isn't a bad idea, incidentally.)
 
Looking at the population numbers, it was a mistake to suggest that San Francisco was significantly larger than Boston.

I made that statement based only on my perception of SF having visited the city on a number of occasions. Boston seems much smaller to me. In my mind I picture many more unique districts akin to Boston's Downtown Crossing encountered while walking around San Francisco.

Maybe that is a mistake, but I guess my point is that Boston doesn't have many areas like Downtown Crossing. The area is the hub of public transit and offers the potential for lots of small, interesting shops -- many of which are surviving the economic downturn while larger stores have failed. A walk up Bromfield Street is quite gritty but to me it has character and loads of potential for small locally-owned proprietors to step in.

When we are at the bottom of an economic downturn, I'd prefer that we waited it out before going for the hail mary.

All said, even with the BID in place, I don't see the sky falling.
 
Downtown Crossing has had a chronic retail vacancy problem for years, well before the current recession started. (Barnes & Noble is the most prominent example; see also the entire area between Borders and the Old State House)
 
If it were up to me, I'd update the zoning to allow for significantly greater height and density contingent on a percentage developed for residential use and small retail spaces on streets (retaining some semblance of the existing doors on the street). And all variances would be use-it-or-lose-it so the value of the zoning upgrade could not be sucked out in a single flip prior to development of a project.

I know that idea has been proposed before, but I'm not sure there ever was any follow-through.

That would be my preferred Hail Mary.
 
new retail for 2011(Scholar's is tomorrow 4/12/11):
Coming in 2011 | Signed Leases or Under Construction

Scholar's 25 School Street (under construction)
Uno Due Go 52 Summer Street (under construction)
Salvatore?s 553 Washington Street at Paramount Center (signed lease)
Subway 18 Tremont Street (signed lease)
Super Cuts 101 Summer Street
Back Deck Grill 10 West Street (under construction)
Eat Kitchen 260 Washington Street (signed lease)
Cakeology 45 Province Street (signed lease)
Underground Express 31 Winter Street(signed lease)
AT&T 349 Washington Street (signed lease)
Click to expand...

http://origin.library.constantconta...05-2086/New+&+Pending+Downtown+Businesses.pdf
 
Back Deck Grill at 10 West? 10 West is Suffolk Dorms? I'm trying to picture where this is going.

Also, @ Subway on 18 Tremont, isn't there one literally one block down the road on Cambridge St?
 
Uno Due Go 52 Summer Street (under construction)

I was wondering why they completely demo'd the ground floor.

Uno's opening new locations? A bit surprised considering that they closed down a bunch a couple years ago (including the one in Allston).
 
RIP..........What I can't figure out is why Menino is destroying the entire Financial District.

He is promoting the Seaport District and offering unlimited amounts of Taxpayers funds to get something started.

Giving Tax breaks to the Backbay.
The entire Financial District is hovering around 20% vacancy with a hole in the heart of it. Something is really wrong with this guy's logic.
 
Did you not just see the list of, like, 10 new businesses opening in DTX?

That is actually good news.
 
Yes aren't business men jumping to build new office space in an area with a 20% vacancy when they can build in the Back Bay where it's approaching zero. What specifically has Menino done to kill the financial district? Filenes is not in the financial district.
 
PaulC said:
Yes aren't business men jumping to build new office space in an area with a 20% vacancy when they can build in the Back Bay where it's approaching zero. What specifically has Menino done to kill the financial district? Filenes is not in the financial district.
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He is not promoting or handing out taxbreaks to the Financial district to the potential of his innovation district? If business men were jumping to build a new office building then why hasn't Filenes or Tommy's Tower, SST been built?

Statler< I seen the list. Yeah I especially think that

SUBWAY and Supercuts will defintely improve the crackhead area near Summer St.
 
Yeah and another wireless store ain't exactly the highest and best use for the area either but that's still 7 decent sounding stores moving into the area.

Can't always dwell on the negative.
 
statler said:
Yeah and another wireless store ain't exactly the highest and best use for the area either but that's still 7 decent sounding stores moving into the area.

Can't always dwell on the negative.
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Instead of giving 75 Million to Vertex for Relocating why don't we use that money to lure a Major Fashion Company or sometype of MEDIA outlet out of NYC to relocate at Filenes?

If your going to spend taxpayers money make an effort. Go after a company that will completely change Boston.

Statler sorry that I'm not that excited over Subway, Supercuts and a wireless POS store. This is what excites you for progress than we have two different standards of the economic excitement.

Cambridge and Somerville Excite me. Now that is innovation based on education. Harvard, MIT and Tufts have made those areas priceless.
 
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You don't have to be excited about it but however you want to cut it, ten new retail stores opening in the central retail district that has been written off as dead is good news.

And I'm really not seeing the connection with Menino and taxpayer money, but I'm beginning to suspect those words are somehow set to autofill in your posts.
 
With NYC being the US center for media and fashion I wouldn't have any hope for one to relocate to Boston. We should try to get more financial or insurance firms to relocate here or at least be better at keepig them. See today's paper regarding Bank of America. If someone does propose a building in the financial district no doubt they will be asking for a tax break even if it's only chapter 21a. I would bet all the high rises in Boston were built with a chapter 21a.

So far the office community has shown little interest in the seaport. Fidelity owns the buildings it's located in so I don't count that.

As far as Subway, Supercuts and wireless stores they may not be exciting but they obviously serve a need. Don't forget the 'broken window' theory. When I worked in the financial area people did go out to get a hair cut, go to tailor or shoe repair during their lunch hour.

Harvard and MIT have made Lexington, Waltham and Longwood priceless too.
 
PaulC said:
With NYC being the US center for media and fashion I wouldn't have any hope for one to relocate to Boston. We should try to get more financial or insurance firms to relocate here or at least be better at keepig them. See today's paper regarding Bank of America. If someone does propose a building in the financial district no doubt they will be asking for a tax break even if it's only chapter 21a. I would bet all the high rises in Boston were built with a chapter 21a.

So far the office community has shown little interest in the seaport. Fidelity owns the buildings it's located in so I don't count that.

As far as Subway, Supercuts and wireless stores they may not be exciting but they obviously serve a need. Don't forget the 'broken window' theory. When I worked in the financial area people did go out to get a hair cut, go to tailor or shoe repair during their lunch hour.

Harvard and MIT have made Lexington, Waltham and Longwood priceless too.
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PaulC your living in the past. That is the same thinking that our local politicans have. Lets just focus on Banking, Insurance companies and Investment firms. Bank of America should be in the bankruptcy process filing either chap 11 or 7 never mind expanding.

Why can't Boston be a Fashion Mecca in the middle of Downtown? Boston has the most educated people in this country going to the top schools in Mass. Cambridge alone evolved into the Biotech industry without any direction from our political hacks. Talk about BOOM for that area.

Their is a negative side to the Cambridge and other boom areas is it forces out young talented professionals who rent who have been renting for a long time in that area.
The lifestyle becomes to expensive to have a family and buy a house and grow with the community. So the area lacks a core community group.

I would actually like to know how much of Boston is owned by College's now the Mayor is complaining they own too much real estate but he sure doesn't promote private industry either to share in the profits of Boston.

BC, BU, Suffolk, Harvard, Emerson, Ect. This is why Boston has always held strong during Recessions.


Harvard has produced some serious talent, between Microsofts and Facebook founders to idiots like Larry Summers. In the end Both Gates and Zuckerberg couldn't leave this area fast enough. Mass is not business friendly especially unless your an Insurance company, or a bank which means the same old story for Boston.

Don't worry we have Subway & Supercuts coming in.
 
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Banks and Insurance companies have also been leaving. I'm not advocating only banking and insurance I just think NYC will always be the center for fashion and media and these people like the NYC life style. We've also lost several magazine companies and publishing companies in the past few years. Boston has a reputation of not being a fashionable city although that has been changing.

Bio-tech has clustered in Cambridge for the same reason other industries cluster in NYC.

Massachusetts has historically enter recessions earlier, deeper and stayed in recessions longer than the rest of the country. We've never fully recovered from the 1990 recession. That's probably one of the reason this one has been mild for us.

I absolutely think we have a horrible business climate. That would be a long topic.

While everyone is focused on the non profits I'd like to know how much is taken by housing projects. If they were rebuilt as mixed income then they would be paying property taxes. I would estimate that on Mass Ave from St Botolph to Harrison Ave more than 50% is off the tax roll for subsidized housing non profits and half way houses.
 
PaulC said:
Banks and Insurance companies have also been leaving. I'm not advocating only banking and insurance I just think NYC will always be the center for fashion and media and these people like the NYC life style. We've also lost several magazine companies and publishing companies in the past few years. Boston has a reputation of not being a fashionable city although that has been changing.

Bio-tech has clustered in Cambridge for the same reason other industries cluster in NYC.

Massachusetts has historically enter recessions earlier, deeper and stayed in recessions longer than the rest of the country. We've never fully recovered from the 1990 recession. That's probably one of the reason this one has been mild for us.

I absolutely think we have a horrible business climate. That would be a long topic.

While everyone is focused on the non profits I'd like to know how much is taken by housing projects. If they were rebuilt as mixed income then they would be paying property taxes. I would estimate that on Mass Ave from St Botolph to Harrison Ave more than 50% is off the tax roll for subsidized housing non profits and half way houses.
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Agree......I just feel it's time for real change in this city & state.
 
Mayor Menino says ?so what? to N.Y. firm?s failed Filene?s project
Moves forward, says stalled project ?not my fault?

By Jerry Kronenberg
Thursday, April 14, 2011 - Updated 3 hours ago



E-mail Print (3) Comments Text size Share Buzz up!Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino is giving New York?s Vornado Realty Trust a Bronx cheer, saying he no longer cares how long the developer leaves a hole where Downtown Crossing?s Filene?s building once stood.

?People say to me: ?Oh, you?ve got a hole there (in Downtown Crossing)? ? so what!? Menino said yesterday at a reception for some 40 businesses that recently opened nearby. ?The hole is going to be there until those folks from New York understand we in Boston know how to do development. And just because they can?t get development done, that?s not my fault.?

Vornado tore down the landmark Filene?s building in 2008 to make way for what was supposed to be a $700 million development featuring stores, condos, offices and a hotel.

But the project stalled a few months later when Vornado claimed it couldn?t get financing.

However, questions arose after Vornado chief Steven Roth boasted in a 2010 speech that his firm once left a Manhattan building half-demolished to make the area blighted and win government aid.

Roth?s comments prompted Menino to threaten to take the Filene?s site by eminent domain, and Hub officials ultimately yanked Vornado?s building approvals.

The firm has since put the property up for sale, but has failed to find a buyer ? reportedly because Vornado set an unrealistically high price.

Menino yesterday told the Herald he?s stopped focusing on what the developer does.

?If they want to be stubborn ? if they want to be arrogant ? that?s too bad, (but) we?ll just keep moving forward,? he said. ?I?m not going to let Vornado stop us from growing in Boston. If those New Yorkers want to be arrogant and think they can hold us up ? we?re Boston, we?re much tougher.?

http://www.bostonherald.com/business/general/view.bg?articleid=1330637
 
?People say to me: ?Oh, you?ve got a hole there (in Downtown Crossing)? ? so what!? Menino said yesterday at a reception for some 40 businesses that recently opened nearby. ?The hole is going to be there until those folks from New York understand we in Boston know how to do development. And just because they can?t get development done, that?s not my fault.?
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That actually came out of a grown man's mouth?
 
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