Walking Tall?
By Thomas Grillo
Special to Banker & Tradesman
John B. Hynes III, the 50-year-old managing partner of Gale International, is juggling at least three giant commercial real estate pro-jects. In 2001, the Back Bay resident negotiated an agreement with POSCO Engineering & Construction Co. and the City of Incheon, South Korea, for the $30 billion Songdo International Business District. The 1,500-acre city is being built from scratch. Upon completion, it will include 100 million square feet of homes, offices, shops, schools, cultural and government buildings, a 100-acre park, a golf course and a hospital.
Closer to home, the $700 million redevelopment of the Filene?s complex in Downtown Crossing is under construction, and Hynes is in the permitting stages for Seaport Square, the $3 billion waterfront community to be built on 23 acres of parking lots in South Boston.
Banker & Tradesman talked to Hynes before reports surfaced last week that the Filene?s redevelopment was being put on hold for at least 90 days due to a lack of financing.
John B. Hynes III
Company: Gale International
Title: Managing Partner
Age: 50
Experience: 28 Years
Q: Brokers say you don?t have financing for One Franklin (the 39-story office, hotel, retail and condominium project next to a reno-vated Filene?s building). Is that true?
A: It?s half true. Our equity investment group, Gale, Mack-Cali Realty Corp., Vernado Realty Trust and JP Morgan has pledged $300 million. And that money goes into the project first to buy the real estate, relocate Filene?s, remove asbestos, demolition and founda-tion excavation. We spent $150 million and have another $150 million to spend before construction financing gets layered in. Today, we have $300 million committed from Bank of America and Bank of Ireland. We need another $100 million and are talking to five banks. We will get it done.
Q: The Filene?s project went through a quick approval process, in part because there was no neighborhood to object to the office tower?s height. What?s your take on tall buildings in Boston?
A: I live in the Back Bay, and I?m not height-adverse at all unless the height creates canyons like you find on Wall Street and some areas of Manhattan. On the other hand, one of the coolest vistas from the Back Bay/Commonwealth Avenue Mall/Public Garden is to look across Boston Common to the Financial District. To me, that?s a neat look, there?s a sense of place. And if I?m on the Common-wealth Avenue Mall at Dartmouth Street and Comm. Ave., I can see across the John Hancock tower and the Prudential building two blocks away. I don?t find that threatening. I don?t want a 60-story building on Commonwealth Avenue. That?s where I draw the line. And we don?t need to add 20-40-story buildings on Beacon Hill or the South End because that would detract from the overall look, feel and value of what makes those neighborhoods good.
Q: Why is there such controversy when towers are proposed in Boston? Activists often dismiss anything a developer says about height when proposing a building because they say it?s all about making money. What?s your take?
A: Those arguments are so disingenuous. What do those people do? They must be making a living. When some residents oppose a building on those grounds it?s like saying, ?It?s too bad you?re newspaper is making so much money, we don?t want it printed it here.? Everyone who works is making a living. And it?s also disingenuous to say, ?Now that our neighborhood is built out, we don?t want anyone else in.? It?s called growth and opportunity. If a city fails to grow it will die.
Q: Why does real estate get so much attention in Boston?
A: Real estate is a major-league sport in this town. I meet lots of people who know my business who are not in real estate. There is major league coverage too. You can count on the city?s newspapers, the BBJ, Banker & Tradesman, Boston Globe and Herald to have a real estate story daily. Why is that? Real estate projects are controversial because they?re big. The final project impacts the neighbors around it, mostly good, sometimes bad. Every mayor of Boston in the last 50 years has put their imprint on the city in different ways through real estate projects.
Five Things you didn?t know about John Hynes:
1. His father was a newscaster in Boston from 1957 to 2005. His grandfather was mayor from 1950 to 1960.
2. Was drafted in 6th round of ?78 NHL Draft (1st US goalie taken in draft)
3. Married young, so passed on his hockey dream and entered real estate in 1980.
4. Divorced in 2004, and moved to Boston.
5. His first trip out of the country was in 2001 to look at a real estate project in Korea.
