Mayoral candidate state Rep. Martin J. Walsh is pushing a dramatic downtown development plan that would put a new City Hall under private ownership and open up Boston’s most coveted site to a hotel, apartments and stores.
“You could put a hotel boutique here. You could put a full hotel here. You could have an office building. You could put so much in this area,” Walsh told the Herald while walking through the vast, deserted brick plaza yesterday morning. “We could have shops … that would fit in with
Faneuil Hall Marketplace.”
The Dorchester Dem*ocrat’s plan, which he
unveiled exclusively to the Herald yesterday, involves bulldozing much-maligned Government Center — a concrete fortress built in 1967 that some critics liken to an ugly intergalactic spaceship.
The city would sell the site to a commercial developer to build a mixed-use project likely to include a hotel, offices, residences and retail. The sale could fetch a price of between $125 million and $150 million and annual taxes of between $10 million and $15 million, Walsh said.
It also would remove the hulking obstacle to views of Faneuil Hall and the North End, allow the city to possibly connect Hanover and Cambridge streets and
allow pedestrians to easily stroll from Faneuil Hall to the Common and Downtown Crossing, Walsh said.
“We’re creating revenue, we’re connecting the city, creating green space, open space, and it’ll help again, much like when City Hall was built in the ’60s, allow us an economic engine for that neighborhood,” he said.
The Walsh campaign estimated that developing Government Center would create approximately 500
permanent jobs and
between 600 and 800 full-time construction jobs. Walsh — considered a top-tier candidate in a crowded 12-way race where the contenders are scrambling to distinguish themselves before next Tuesday’s preliminary vote — is backed by key unions, including carpenters, ironworkers and electrical workers, who likely would benefit under the plan.
The project would make the area a 24/7 economic anchor and help recover business — particularly nightspot dollars — lost to the wildly popular Seaport, Walsh said.
Meanwhile, Walsh would relocate City Hall to either
a public or private site somewhere in the area of Government Center, the
Financial District and Downtown Crossing.
“We’re not talking about the South Boston waterfront,” Walsh said, referring to a short-lived plan by Mayor Thomas M.
Menino. “I want to keep it right where the residents of Boston can access it.
Listen, I don’t need an
ocean*front view as mayor
of the city of Boston.”
Possible public sites Walsh mentioned include the parking garage in Winthrop Square, the A-1 police station on New Sudbury Street and the School Dep*artment building on Court Street. The China Trade Center also is a potential site, the campaign said.
Under Walsh’s plan, a private developer would site, build, own and operate a privately financed City Hall, and receive a fixed return of about $5 million
to $7 million annually on a 20- to 40-year lease,
after which the building and property ownership would revert back to the city for $1. The city would not have to spend a penny on construction or a mortgage for the building, and would enjoy cost savings in areas such as maintenance and security that would be handled by the private company rather than the city — as well as taking in $5 million to $6 million annually in property taxes from its new privately owned City Hall, the campaign estimates.
“We will not do private tax incentives on that building,” Walsh said, “so there will be no special deals, no special permitting.”
Proceeds from the proposal would help fund
a three-year plan to pro*-
vide full-day kindergarten for all 8,000 4-year-olds
in the city. Some $23 million would be used in the first year, Walsh said.
Revenue also would be used to revamp and restore city-owned parks as well as to help fund the arts,
including creating a Cabinet-level arts commissioner position within City Hall.
Walsh pledged to put his City Hall plan into action within the first 90 days of his administration. He also vowed a death date for the great gray monstrosity at Government Center.
“Before I get re-elected as mayor,” Walsh said, “I’m hoping to be in the new building.”
