News ONLY Columbus Center Thread

[philip]

Columbus Center, Boston, MA

This 35-story tower development would take shape on a deck over the Massachusetts Turnpike and would include an upscale hotel, multimillion-dollar condos, parks and an array of neighborhood shops. The $500 million mini-neighborhood would be one of the largest highway air-rights projects ever built in the country.

Status
Approved - Not yet under construction

Architects
cbt architects

Stats
Name: Columbus Center
Project Address: 101 Clarendon Street & 100 Berekley Street
Map & Plan Links: View aerial map (large file) : View plot map
Neighborhood:South End/Bay Village
Uses:Hotel, Retail, Residential, Ownership
Land Sq. Ft.: 44,734 ft
Building Sq. Ft.: 1,302,000 ft
Residential Units: 343
Applicant: Columbus Center Associates
Project Description: 493 residential units w/ 15% affordable (10% on, 5% off), 199 hotel rooms, and 917 parking spaces-over Turnpike Air Rights Parcels 16, 17, 18, 19 Zoning-exempt due to MOU. MOU Determinations approved 7/10/03. Voluntary PDA

Source: Development Projects - Boston Redevelopment Authority

Images

Articles
- Developer Disappointed With Mass Turnpike's Offer, 2006
- Deal Near To Give Columbus Center A Boost, 2006
- Columbus Center Wins Tax Credit Worth Millions, 2006
- South End News - Columbus Center Moves Forward, 2006
- Columbus Center Gets Key Financing, 2006
- Columbus Center Wants $50M in Aid, 2005
- Columbus Center Seeks Public Financing, 2005
- Columbus Center Air Rights Moves Forward, 2003
- Progress? Columbus Center could start in '04, 2003

Links

- Official Columbus Center Condo Website
- Project Information on Boston Redevelopment Authority
- Interactive Graphic of Columbus Center from the Boston Globe

- Columbus Center - archBOSTON Wiki

 

[philip]

Columbus Center sails through latest round of scrutiny

Home > Business Today > Business News > RSS Feed
By Scott Van Voorhis/ Dealmakers
Friday, May 26, 2006 - Updated: 01:38 AM EST

Whew! That was a close one.

Retired Judge Herbert Wilkins has found no special treatment when it comes to a key state subsidy for the $600 million Columbus Center air-rights tower complex.

Apparently, developer Arthur Winn?s status as a big Gov. Romney campaign contributor played no role in the special assistance the 400-foot-high condo and hotel skyrise complex won.

The conclusion, delivered quietly earlier this month, will hardly come as a shocker.

After all, it is our good governor with the big White House dreams who launched the review in the first place.

And to be fair, there was never any evidence of any undue influence, other than the fact that Winn has been a Romney supporter.

Rather, for a local politician with national aspirations, it was that old maneuver called covering your tail.

If the measure is just another silly government exercise, then I guess no harm was done.

That is unless you take into account the big picture surrounding the hotly contested Columbus Center plan, which would deck over an ugly Turnpike highway canyon that for decades has divided the Back Bay and South End.

While the goal is noble and ambitious, the project prompted years of fierce opposition from South End and Back Bay neighbors angered over the sheer scale of Winn?s creation.

And let me tell you, there were reviews galore, with the builders routinely grilled at more than 100 meetings - spanning years - by their prospective neighbors.

Still, by this spring, that gauntlet was history as Winn and Cassin prepared to pull the trigger on the complex financing package needed to get the long-delayed project into construction.

Then came the Romney review, and yet another - albeit minor - delay.

Now it?s time to see whether we are talking about a real plan, or just another Boston big development pipe dream.

International Place developer Don Chiofaro is ready to take another shot at what he likes to do best - building big.

He wants to build a giant new office, condo and hotel sky-rise that would soar, at its highest point, nearly 500 feet into the Boston skyline, city officials say.

The developer has an option to buy an unsightly parking garage strategically located on the new Greenway Park system and next door to the New England Aquarium.

Chiofaro will need room to build, with his plan typically outsized: 800,000 square feet of offices, 125 luxury condos and 175 hotel rooms - not to mention a huge, underground garage.

But the size of Chiofaro?s plan is likely to raise the hackles of waterfront activists eager to preserve public access to the waterfront.

So look for some stormy weather ahead.

 

[Mike]

Well this was in the Globe on May 27th:

Columbus Center receives Turnpike Authority OK

Columbus Center, the mixed-use project that will rise above a deck over the Massachusetts Turnpike, has cleared the last big hurdle in the permitting process, a spokesman for Winn Development said. The Massachusetts Turnpike Authority said it executed ground- and air-rights lease agreements after the governor's office signed off on the deal. With an estimated cost of $624 million , the project envisions 450 residences, a hotel, retail space, and public parks. Construction on the deck should begin within a month, and the project could be completed by 2010 . (Chris Reidy)

Link

 

[callahan]

Turnpike News

Columbus Center Project Ground and Air Rights Lease Agreements

Chairman Matthew J. Amorello announces that the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority and CUIP-WINN Columbus Center LLC have executed the Ground and Air Rights Lease Agreements for the development and construction of the Columbus Center project on air rights over the Turnpike in Boston known as Air Rights Parcels 16, 17, 18 and 19, located between Clarendon Street and Arlington Street. CUIP-WINN Columbus Center LLC is a joint venture entity established by Winn Development Company/WDC Development Associates Limited Partnership and its equity partner, California Urban Investment Partners, LLC. The Leases have a term of 99 years.

Chairman Amorello stated, "This is great news for new development in the City, creating jobs and economic development opportunities. This is also great news for toll payers as a source of non-toll revenue to cover operation and maintenance costs of the Metropolitan Highway System."

Amorello also noted, "This development shows air rights developments have great value and are buildable. The Massachusetts Turnpike Authority continues to be a national leader in air rights development." The MTA was the first public transportation authority to use air rights with the development of the Prudential Center in Boston and Star Market in Newton in 1963. Chairman Amorello went on to say "We want to express our appreciation to the Office of the Governor for their review and approval of this agreement."

The Project will consist of 450 new housing units, a hotel, three new public parks, new retail and parking and will cover the turnpike and adjacent MBTA tracks, shielding the surrounding area from the view and noise of the highway and create new city blocks with new, active street walls. The project will significantly improve the connection of the South End, Back Bay, and Bay Village neighborhoods. The total project cost will exceed $600 million.

The Columbus Center project consists of:

Parcel 16: a 35-story, 608,000 square foot building containing a hotel of up to 162 rooms, approximately 162 residential condominium units, a health club, parking for approximately 186 cars, and street level restaurant and retail space;

Parcel 17: an 11-story, 300,000 square foot building containing approximately 151 residential condominium units with parking for approximately 98 cars and street level restaurant and retail space and a public park of approximately 24,000 square feet;

Parcel 18: a seven-story, 171,000 square foot building containing approximately 134 residential town house condominium units and street-level grocery and daycare space of approximately 23,000 square feet surrounding and screening a parking garage for approximately 633 cars, and a 2,000 square foot public park; and

Parcel 19: an 11,400 square foot public park.

In addition to covering the transportation corridor and the creation of the three new public parks described above, other public benefits of the Columbus Center project include:

*44 affordable housing units on-site and 22 off-site affordable units

*Signature architectural design by CBT/Childs Bertman Tseckares Inc. The buildings have been designed to respond to the principles and guidelines for development of Turnpike air rights set forth in the "Civic Vision for Turnpike Air Rights in Boston" prepared by the Boston Redevelopment Authority in June, 2000.

*350 new permanent jobs

*2000 construction jobs

*Significant new real estate, hotel, and sales taxes for the City of Boston and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts

*Improvements to Back Bay Station

Deck General Contractor: J.F. White Company, Framingham, MA

Building General Contractor: Suffolk Construction Company, Boston, MA

 

[statler]

Columbus Center wins tax credits worth millions

By Chris Reidy, Globe Staff | June 30, 2006

Developers of the massive Columbus Center project over the Massachusetts Turnpike won state and Boston city tax credits yesterday that could be worth $21.5 million, after failing in several previous attempts to get public assistance.

The Economic Assistance Coordinating Council , a public-private body that oversees government incentives for development, approved the credits, despite a warning from Massachusetts Inspector General Gregory W. Sullivan that Columbus Center did not appear to qualify.

That incentive program is ``exclusively for projects that cannot be developed through the `ordinary operations of private enterprise,' " Sullivan wrote to the council Wednesday, citing the program's guidelines. ``Clearly this project was designed to be developed through the ordinary operations of private enterprise."

Winn Development plans an urban village of 1.3 million square feet over the turnpike and surrounding area, bridging the Back Bay and South End neighborhoods. The project includes a 35-story tower with hotel rooms, condominiums and stores, as well as several additional condo buildings and four parks.

Costs for Columbus Center, a decade in the making, have recently ballooned to $624 million, partly because of sharply higher costs for building materials.

One dispute is whether Winn promised to build the project entirely without public funding. His critics say Winn made such a promise, something Winn denies.

During the lengthy permitting process, the issue of public aid, including tax credits, and the project's size became intertwined.

When neighborhood residents complained Columbus Center was too big, they said Winn responded that the project needed to be that big to be profitable enough to attract private investors and not need public assistance.

In these critics' view, the developer used that argument to win key permits for a large project, and then later asked for public aid without reducing the size of the project.

Winn vehemently disputes that account.

``From the get-go, public support was always built into this project," said Alan Eisner , a Winn spokesman.

Addressing some of the newly approved tax credits, Eisner said that government officials ``really stepped up to the plate and provided a meaningful and appreciated portion of the economic resources required to move this project forward."

``It's not appropriate to use taxpayer dollars to enhance a developer's profits," said state Representative Martha M. Walz , a Boston Democrat.

But Deb Shufrin , an economic assistance council member, said the incentive program's goal is to promote job creation, and Columbus Center is expected to generate many jobs.

``We disagree with the inspector general's interpretation" of the guidelines, Shufrin said.

Senior assistant inspector general Jack McCarthy said his office is limited to making recommendations. ``We can't force the council to do anything," he said.

The Globe reported in December that Winn was seeking more than $50 million total in public aid.

But the Legislature recently rejected a $4.3 million grant, and Eisner said Winn learned last month that its request for federal tax credits with a present-day value of $15 million was rejected.

Eisner noted that Columbus Center would include more than $40 million in public benefits such as parks, affordable housing, and a groundwater recovery system.

Construction is expected to begin in about 60 days, Eisner said.

Chris Reidy can be reached at reidy@globe.com.

Link

 

[PaulC]

status

From this weeks South End News:

The city, John Hancock Financial Services and Columbus Center developers, CassinWinn Development, have reached an agreement over a small plot of land that, for years, made life complicated for the Columbus Center development team. The agreement paves the way for the construction of Frieda Garcia Park on that plot. It?s named after the South End community activist who served as President of the United South End Settlements for 20 years. The agreement also commits CassinWinn to starting construction on the Columbus Center this year.

http://www.southendnews.com/ME2/Aud...91&tier=4&id=80699828C2F54D479252FB585E3E4B99

 

[bostonman]

Is Columbus Center up in the air?
Major investor says the $650m project is at risk without more aid, new lease
By Chris Reidy, Globe Staff | August 25, 2006

A major investor in the proposed $650 million Columbus Center mixed-use development says the urban village to be built over Interstate 90 is ``at risk" unless the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority renegotiates more favorable terms for its air-rights lease and the state considers more public assistance.

``Our ability to proceed with this development without restructuring of lease payments and receipt of necessary state funding is at risk," the investor wrote in a letter to the authority obtained by the Globe.

The letter, which notes Columbus Center is facing cost overruns, came just as the developer was getting ready to begin construction on a huge project that proposes building housing, a hotel, and parks on a deck over the Massachusetts Turnpike. When completed, something once expected to happen in 2010, it would reconnect the Back Bay and South End neighborhoods, which are separated by the turnpike.

The investor saying the project is at risk is a joint venture of the California Public Employees' Retirement System and MacFarlane Urban Realty Co., a San Francisco real estate investment firm.

Because of soaring construction costs, Columbus Center's price tag has jumped $26 million since the spring to $650 million , said Roger Cassin , managing partner of WinnDevelopment of Boston, the project's developer; deck construction costs have increased to $118 million from $54 million in three years.

For the entire project, ``we're now looking at a shortfall of $17 million to $25 million," he said.

That must be addressed before Winn can close on a construction loan of more than $400 million, Cassin said.

One way to address the shortfall is to get more public assistance.

Critics contend Winn promised during the permitting process that it would not seek public assistance, something Cassin denies. The project is in line to receive about $22 million in various forms of public assistance, he said.

``Taxpayers should not be subsidizing developers' profits," said state Representative Martha M. Walz , a Boston Democrat.

A request to restructure the air-rights lease is ``code for saying we want cheaper rents," she said. ``If costs are going up, the developer should take smaller profits."

The joint venture's letter was addressed to John Cogliano, who recently became Turnpike Authority chairman after Matthew Amorello's departure.

A copy of the letter was sent to the Massachusetts Housing Finance Agency , which has earmarked a $15 million low-interest loan to Columbus Center. It made a copy of the letter available to the Globe.

Calls to Calpers were referred to MacFarlane, which declined to comment.

Dated Aug. 18 and signed by MacFarlane's chief operating officer, Thomas Klugherz , the letter criticizes the Turnpike Authority for repeatedly refusing to meet with the Columbus Center team. Klugherz argued the lease needs to be renegotiated because market conditions have changed. While construction costs escalated, the housing market softened, diminishing the money the project can make from selling its 450 condos.

``The authority's continuing lack of response has put project viability at risk," wrote Klugherz, requesting a meeting with Cogliano.

That meeting could happen as early as next week, said Jon Carlisle , Cogliano's spokesman.

``Whatever decision is made will reflect the best interests of toll payers and taxpayers," Carlisle said.

Klugherz's letter noted that Winn has invested $36.5 million in the project and that the joint venture has agreed to provide up to $140 million.

The long-term lease currently calls for Winn to pay $12.2 million , Cassin said. In addition, the Turnpike Authority would receive 1 percent of the proceeds of resales of the project's condos. According to Winn, that's worth $80 million to $100 million.

It took years to complete the permitting process for Columbus Center. Critics complained the project was too massive. They claimed Winn argued that the project needed to be big so it could attract investors who would pay for it with private financing.

``They said, `It must be gigantic, or we'll go broke,' " recalled Ned Flaherty , a project critic.

Critics were upset because they said that Winn sought public assistance without reducing the project's size.

According to Winn, Columbus Center will provide 2,500 union construction jobs and create 350 permanent jobs. Winn says it will provide $40 million in public benefits, including four public parks and 44 units of on-site affordable housing.

Councilor at Large Stephen J. Murphy, of Hyde Park, said Columbus Center is supported by many public officials. ``It would be a travesty if this falls through," he said.

Cassin said that won't happen.

``Nobody's going to let this fail," he said.

Chris Reidy can be reached at reidy@globe.com.

? Copyright 2006 Globe Newspaper Company.


I don't know about you guys, but I really hope that this doesn't impact the project too much. I would really like to see the pike covered and that immediate area spruced up a bit. I hope this is an issue that can be resolved quickly.

 

[Mike]

Critics: Don?t redo pike air-rights deal!
By Scott Van Voorhis
Boston Herald Business Reporter
Tuesday, August 29, 2006 - Updated: 07:29 AM EST


Development over the Massachusetts Turnpike through Boston?s heart was pitched as a potential gold mine for taxpayers weary of Big Dig cost overruns.

But the hope of extra revenue to offset tolls and highway construction costs may turn out to be a mirage, critics say, as rising construction prices and bitter controversy threaten to torpedo the flagship $650 million Columbus Center air-rights project.

The Turnpike earlier this year cut a $12 million lease deal with the Columbus Center development team, led by local builders Arthur Winn and Roger Cassin, for a seven-acre stretch of air rights between the Back Bay and South End. A cut of future condo sales is expected to bring in another $80 million to $100 million.

But faced with skyrocketing construction costs, Columbus Center?s lead investor now wants to restructure the rental payments and possibly seek additional public subsidies.

Rising prices have more than doubled the cost of building out the Turnpike deck to $118 million, noted Alan Eisner, a spokesman for the project.

?Unless the state comes to the table and helps us figure out a way to reduce or eliminate a shortfall of $17 to $25 million, this project could collapse,? Eisner said.

However, critics say the deal is too generous already - and could pose big problems for taxpayers if developers seek similar deals for big air-rights projects proposed near Fenway Park and Chinatown.

The $12 million rental deal is below the $26 million value an appraiser hired by the Turnpike came up with. In downtown Boston, available development sites can sell for as high as $30 million an acre, notes Ned Flaherty, co-founder of the Alliance of Boston Neighborhoods and a South End activist.

?The price of the first few parcels sets the price formula for all the others,? Flaherty said.

Meanwhile, union and community supporters of the big development are warning that 2,500 construction jobs are at stake. ?It?s a huge loss,? warns Jim Coyle, head of the Metropolitan Boston Building Trades Council.

But State Rep. Marty Walz (D-Back Bay) argued against further concessions, noting that the developer was given permission to build a large, 400-foot high-rise complex with the understanding it would be privately financed. ?The first rent reductions and subsidies were not justified and subsequent rent reductions and subsidies are also not justified,? Walz said.



Link

 

[kz1000ps]

Deal near to give Columbus Center plan a Boost

By Thomas C. Palmer Jr., Globe Staff | December 5, 2006

The troubled, long-delayed Columbus Center project over the Massachusetts Turnpike on the edge of Boston's Back Bay, with a price tag now in excess of $650 million, is close to getting a life-saving financial boost from two agencies this month, according to a senior state official.

Massachusetts Turnpike Authority board member Tom Trimarco said the agency is considering letting WinnDevelopment defer payment of large portions of the $12 million in lease payments that the company owes in exchange for an increase in the amount of those payments. The Turnpike owns the air rights over the highway.

"I'm hoping we're going to reach a decision and present something to the board" of the Turnpike Authority at one of two meetings this month, said Trimarco, who is also the state secretary of administration and finance. "We're still talking with the developer."

WinnDevelopment is proposing to build a complex of towers with hotel, residential, office, and retail space and parks over four blocks of the below-grade Turnpike roadway.

The company was awarded development rights for Columbus Center from the Turnpike almost 10 years ago, and the project's cost has since more than doubled. One of WinnDevelopment's partners in the deal, the California Public Employees' Retirement System, said in August that Columbus Center was at risk of not getting built unless it received more favorable financial terms. It estimated a shortfall of $17 million to $25 million, and as construction prices have continued to push up since August that gap has grown.

"Time is of the essence," said Trimarco .

The Turnpike board is holding a special session tomorrow to deal with a different matter, the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway downtown. But Trimarco said the board could take up the Columbus Center matter as well. The Turnpike board is also scheduled to meet later in December.

Trimarco said WinnDevelopment is negotiating separately with MassHousing, the state's affordable housing bank, for about $6 million in loans, at market interest rates, following a $15 million loan the agency had previously agreed to provide under more favorable terms.

A spokesman for WinnDevelopment, Alan Eisner, said the company had been told by state officials that any modifications to its lease "could not impose an additional burden on taxpayers. So we've been trying to deal with that reality while we figure out a way to go forward."

Opponents of Columbus Center have strongly objected to the use of any public help for the project.

If struck, the deals with the two government agencies could put WinnDevelopment on track to begin construction this spring, real estate executives who have been briefed on the negotiations said yesterday. They asked not to be identified because no final deal has been reached.

Increased payments to the Turnpike and MassHousing would come from a resale fee that would be imposed on buyers of the project's condominium residences. It is currently set at 1 percent of the price of a unit. Under the accord now being negotiated, that fee would be increased to 1.5 percent or more, Trimarco said.

Thomas C. Palmer Jr. can be reached at tpalmer@globe.com.

? Copyright 2006 Globe Newspaper Company.

 

[Mike]

Developer disappointed with Mass. Turnpike offer
December 21, 2006


THE REGION
Columbus Center developer Arthur Winn, seeking more favorable terms on his lease with the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority so he can get started on the $650 million mixed-use project over the turnpike between the South End and Back Bay, said he was disappointed in a package that the Turnpike Authority gave him. "We did not get what our equity partners asked for or what they needed to guarantee that this project will go forward," said Alan Eisner of WinnDevelopment . Winn, facing a funding gap of up to $25 million, recently secured an additional loan from Mass. Housing and had sought to defer lease payments to the Turnpike Authority, in exchange for an increase in those payments later. Turnpike officials would not comment. (Thomas C. Palmer Jr.)




Link

 

[xec]

Press release on the BRA website. Thought it was worth posting here.

City of Boston Wins Approval to Expand Empowerment Zone

Turnpike Air Rights Development Parcels Are Now in the ?Zone?

The City of Boston today announced that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) recently granted approval to expand Boston?s Empowerment Zone (EZ.) The city?s EZ will now include all parcels identified as Turnpike Air Rights developable parcels ? specifically, the air rights above the Massachusetts Turnpike described as Parcels 4 through 22 in the City?s ?A Civic Vision for Turnpike Air Rights? document. The city?s EZ, administered by Boston Connects, Inc. (BCI), links residents and neighborhoods to greater economic opportunity through job creation and skills training. The approval is a huge win for the city as it will go far in providing numerous job opportunities for EZ residents and allow for new businesses located within the new zone to take advantage of the EZ tax credits and bonds. Projects built using these air rights will now be directly linked to job opportunities for neighborhood residents.

Boston?s EZ includes 6.8 square miles of some of the City's most vibrant and diverse neighborhoods. Its nearly 60,000 residents, roughly 10% of the City's population, live in Chinatown, Dorchester, Jamaica Plain, Mission Hill, Roxbury, the Seaport District, South Boston, and the South End.

The approval also allows for the City to add portions of already-developed air rights directly above the Turnpike. This area includes sections of Parcels 15 and 16, which includes pieces of the Hynes Convention Center, Prudential Center, Copley Mall and the John Hancock Center parking garage.

One of the cross-cutting goals of empowerment zones is to increase the number of job opportunities for EZ residents. To implement this goal, the federal government has made both wage and other business tax credits available to businesses located within the EZ. These businesses can take advantage of one of the EZ tax credits and claim up to $3,000 annually for each EZ resident they hire. Additionally, the City can issue bonds to make low interest loans to businesses located in the EZ for financing properties within the zone. For a full listing of the credits and bond opportunities visit www.bostonez.org and click on ?tax credits.?

BCI is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization in charge of implementing the long-term vision of the EZ ? providing for economic self-sufficiency for individuals, families and communities. Under the leadership of a 24-member governing board, BCI has been successful in linking some of the City's most needy residents and neighborhoods with new economic
opportunity-through job creation, daycare, skills training, alternative education or ESL. Since its inception, BCI has invested more than $14 million in programs and services, more than $64 million in EZ Bond financing and another $42 in EDI/HUD 108 dollars for a total $106 million investment in Boston?s EZ.

Press Contact: Jessica Shumaker, BRA, 617.918.4446.



Release Date: February 12, 2007

 

[kz1000ps]

Columbus Center Stick in Neutral

by Adam Martignetti - Courant News Writer
April 7 - April 13, 2007

A revised lease agreement with the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority (MTA) has not jump started the $650 million Columbus Center air rights project, which remains stalled by financial trouble.

A spokesperson for WinnDevelopment said there is no timetable to begin construction on the project, which received approval more than a year ago. Columbus Center, a mixed-use development consisting of a hotel, office space, retail space and housing, will be built on air rights Parcel 16, 17 and 18 over the Turnpike east of Back Bay Station.

"The project remains on hold while the financing is worked out," said Alan Eisner of Regan Communications. "The status quo hasn't changed in recent weeks."

This winter, WinnDevelopment received a new lease from the MTA which allows the developer to defer upfront payments in the exchange for larger ones in the future. Eisner described the arrangement as "revenue neutral" for the Turnpike Authority.

Columbus Center may also receive federal tax credits through the Department of Housing and Urban Development's Empowerment Zone program, which encourages businesses to employ local residents. The City of Boston petitioned the government to make the entire stretch of air rights over the Turnpike eligible for Empowerment credits.

"It doesn't guarantee us tax credits, it just gets us in the mix," Eisner said.

Despite those potential financial benefits, Columbus Center is not any closer to breaking ground, due largely to construction costs that are increasing by as much as 20 percent per year. For example, the cost to build the concrete and steel deck to cover the Turnpike has escalated from $30 million to $140 million since the project was first conceived, eisner said.

The costs of the public benefits for the project, which include three public parks, affordable housing both on and off site and workforce development payments, may also increase beyond the original estimate of $40 million, eisner said. The final project cost could increase to as much as $700 million, depending on financing.

WinnDevelopment's lone equity partner in the project, the California Public Employees' retirement System, issued a statement in August saying that Columbus Center was in danger of not being built.

"Anything and everything is being explored at this point," Eisner said. "We're still optimistic, but a lot of things need to fall into place."

 

[stellarfun]

Hard to say whether this means Winn and Cassin are abandoning development in Boston, or a signal they are going to concentrate on Columbus Center.

From June 16 Boston Globe:

JPI Inc., the Texas-based apartments company run locally by former Boston Redevelopment Authority director Thomas N. O'Brien, has agreed to buy the long-dormant East Boston development site Clippership Wharf for $17 million.

JPI, which is rapidly expanding in the Boston area, has signed an agreement with the co-owners of the property, WinnDevelopment of Boston and New York developer Stephen M. Ross.

.......WinnDevelopment chairman Arthur Winn, with local partner Roger M. Cassin, has spent more than a decade planning Columbus Center, an ambitious mixed-use development in the Back Bay and South End. The project has been delayed because of rising construction costs and now has a price tag of at least $650 million.

Eisner said Winn and Ross's decision to sell Clippership was "unrelated" to the Columbus Center situation.

 

[stellarfun]

I don't think the state gives out money to projects that are dead. Maybe the project should be renamed Phoenix at Columbus Center.

State awards $76m in development grants

By Thomas C. Palmer Jr., Globe Staff | June 29, 2007

The Massachusetts office of Economic Development is giving out $76 million in grants to 21 development projects, including $10 million to Columbus Center, a long-delayed hotel, residential, and retail project that is to straddle the Massachusetts Turnpike between the Back Bay and South End.

Columbus Center, which was disputed by some in the community but has received all of its city and state permits, has been in planning for more than 10 years, and its estimated cost has risen from about $300 million to more than $700 million.

"This state grant, requested by the city for Columbus Center, is a significant step toward reaching our mutual objective of a groundbreaking this summer," said a spokesman for Columbus Center developers Arthur Winn and Roger Cassin.

 

[stellarfun]

from today's Globe

Democrats oppose Patrick on grant
Columbus Center $10m draws fire

By Andrea Estes, Globe Staff | July 7, 2007

Governor Deval Patrick's decision to steer $10 million in economic development funds to the private Columbus Center complex has angered House Democrats who have repeatedly refused to support the controversial and increasingly expensive development with taxpayer money.

The grant was championed by Senator Dianne Wilkerson, a strong Patrick ally and supporter of the project, who was rebuffed by the Legislature two years ago when she tried to include $4.3 million for the development in an economic stimulus package.

"The developer is asking the taxpayers to subsidize his profit margin," said Representative Martha M. Walz, a Democrat who represents the Back Bay. "That is offensive to me and not an appropriate use of our tax dollars. We don't pay taxes to make developers richer."

Patrick administration officials and Wilkerson defended public investment in a project that developers say will create thousands of jobs and rejoin two of the city's most vibrant neighborhoods, the Back Bay and South End.

"There are some folks who may take issue with this, but the fact is the Columbus Center is probably our best and biggest chance of new job creation for the city of Boston," Wilkerson said.

Legislative opponents also argued that the money, which was awarded last week, was inappropriately drawn from a pool of money that was designed to help create manufacturing jobs in Massachusetts, not to subsidize real estate developers.

"This wasn't supposed to be a grant program where we just blow the money out," said Representative Daniel E. Bosley of North Adams, House chairman of the Joint Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies, who helped craft the bill. "It was supposed to be money we held on to and could use when big players came here and said, 'We're interested [in locating in Massachusetts]. What can you do for us.' It was not to build condos or hotels."

Robert Coughlin, Patrick's undersecretary for business development, said the money will be used to create a deck and tunnel over the Massachusetts Turnpike. "The legislative intent was to make infrastructure improvements that will allow businesses to grow and create jobs," Coughlin said. "We're not investing in hotel rooms."

Wilkerson was unapologetic about doing whatever she can to support the project. "There is a difference of opinion here, she said. But "I'm going to do what every other legislator worth his or her weight will do when they have something they believe in, go through one door and if it's locked go through another door. . . . I've been looking at every pot and every pool of money for this project and any other project that provides the potential for job creation for the residents of my district."

According to administration officials, Mayor Thomas M. Menino also advocated funding for the 1.3 million-square-foot retail and residential development, which will rise above the turnpike between Arlington and Clarendon streets. It will include a 35-story tower on a 1,500-foot-long deck over the Turnpike, which will contain hotel rooms, condos, and retail space.

Bosley said the developers, Arthur Winn and Roger Cassin, had sought money from the Legislature more than once.

In rejecting these requests, several lawmakers, including House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi, argued that the developers won approval for the project precisely because they pledged in many community meetings never to seek public financing for the sprawling complex, whose projected cost has mushroomed from $300 million to more than $700 million.

"We have objected," said Representative Byron Rushing of the South End, a member of DiMasi's leadership team. "My constituents did not feel it was a good use of public money. The whole idea was it would make so much money and be such a benefit to the community, we would not need to subsidize it."

An earlier attempt by Wilkerson to get the funds earmarked, or guaranteed as part of the economic stimulus package, was rejected by House leaders. Lawmakers, however, did set aside an unrestricted pool of $100 million to be allocated by the administration. Last week Housing and Economic Development Secretary Daniel O'Connell distributed more than $76 million of the unallotted money to a variety of projects, including Columbus Center.

The developers, according to spokesman Alan Eisner, had requested $20 million under the grant program.

Separately, the state last year had committed $20.6 million in low-interest MassHousing loans.

Eisner defended the state grant award, saying the project will deliver hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars in community benefits. "This project is an economic and social home run for the city of Boston," he said. "It's been over 10 years in the making, and it's weathered the storm of huge increases in construction costs, particularly for concrete and steel, which form the basis of the project's foundation over the Turnpike and the MBTA tracks."

He said the projects will provide more than $45 million in public benefits, including 2,600 construction jobs, 360 permanent jobs, three new state parks, and a new ground-water system. Fifteen percent of the units will be considered affordable housing, he said.

"These benefits far outweigh the public subsidies which have been sought and were deemed necessary from the beginning," Eisner said.

Eisner insisted the developers never promised to build the project without any public funds.

Shirley Kressel, a Boston neighborhood activist who has opposed the use of public funds for the project, called the grant award an outrage.

"They rammed this project down the community's throat swearing they would cover all possible costs and they would never get a penny of public subsidy," she said. "As soon as the approval process was over and nobody was looking they launched a treasure hunt in the pockets of the local state and federal government."

 

[BarbaricManchurian]

ADRIAN WALKER
Snow job creation

By Adrian Walker, Globe Columnist | July 10, 2007

As a neighborhood-eating monstrosity in the making, the Columbus Center project in the South End has never lacked opponents.

Though the condo/retail/hotel project has been in the works for at least a decade, it stirred its largest controversy in just the last few days. As the Globe's Andrea Estes reported Saturday, the state has steered $10 million in taxpayer money to the project in the name of job creation.

Versions of this deal were rejected by the Legislature at least twice in recent years, but developer Arthur Winn's persistent ally, Senator Dianne Wilkerson of Roxbury, found a way to get it done that didn't require a vote. A $100 million piggybank created last year for infrastructure improvements statewide was tapped.

The state's economic development officials were anxious yesterday to point out that none of the money in the grant goes to Winn and his partner Roger Cassin. Technically, they are correct. The project requires that a 1,500- foot- long deck be built over the Massachusetts Turnpike. Instead of the developers building it themselves, as they promised for years to do, you and I are building it. The developers don't get a $10 million check, but they just saved that amount on their $700 million project.

Representative Martha Walz of the Back Bay has lived with the Columbus Center controversy for years, first as a neighborhood activist and now as an elected official. She strongly opposes the subsidy.

Walz said she personally attended meetings in which the developers pledged not to seek public money. She was not consulted on the funding; neither, incredibly, was Speaker Salvatore F . DiMasi, even though the project is partly in his district. DiMasi complained to Governor Deval Patrick about the deal early yesterday.

Walz pointed out that the developers long ago struck a deal with the Turnpike Authority to pay reduced rent on the parcels they are building on, because the expense of the deck was factored in. "We've already paid for this deck three times over," she told me yesterday.

Wilkerson is a longtime ally of Winn, a campaign contributor. She has supported this project since her first term and passionately defended it yesterday. Wilkerson's case, summarized: We do worse things in the Legislature all the time.

When that wasn't going over, she told me that the Patrick administration's job creation was too focused on upscale fields such as biotech that don't employ her constituents. She even suggested that this deal might be a blueprint for future development over the Turnpike.

"We passed a bill that gave almost $150 million to harbor and waterfront development, because there was a determination that developers needed it to make their deals work," Wilkerson said. She added that lawmakers signed off on $9 million for a Best Western Hotel in Roxbury's Crosstown Center project a few years ago, when the developers hadn't even asked for it.

"We use public money for leverage," she explained, and said the legislators won a pledge for a grand total of six jobs.

Wilkerson's comments illustrate just how the administration got rolled on Columbus Center. First, she played the class-warfare card. Then, she argued that her constituents are shut out of the jobs the administration is trying to create.

It isn't clear whether Patrick had any direct involvement in this mess, but this administration can't stand to have anyone say it isn't doing enough for working-class people or African-Americans. Some critics, including Wilkerson, have privately been saying just that for months. To make her go away, she and Winn get a victory, and the state puts out a press release touting its job creation.

It is outrageous that Wilkerson thinks terrible decisions justify more terrible decisions, but that's what 14 years of cutting deals at the State House can do to your judgment. Patrick has no such excuse. He once pledged to take on the culture of Beacon Hill. That promise feels as if it were made a very long time ago.

Adrian Walker is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at walker@globe.com.
? Copyright 2007 Globe Newspaper Company.

This isn't a useless grant though, like the other ones that only made 6 jobs. This will make at least hundreds of jobs, and the "Beacon Hill culture" is giving to favored developers only, and still giving them money even after they don't build anything. They have economic development grants in every state, this isn't anything different or "Beacon Hill culture".

 

[stellarfun]

from the July 11 South End News

Issue Date: 7/12/2007, Posted On: 7/11/2007

Columbus Center seeks more public funding
by Linda Rodriguez

Developers of the Columbus Center project have applied for up to $35 million in a tax-exempt bond loan from Boston Industrial Development Financing Authority (BIDFA), an agency of the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA). A public hearing on the request was held July 11 in the lobby area of BIDFA?s Drydock Avenue office on Wednesday morning.

The request comes on the heels of the controversy kicked up by Gov. Deval Patrick?s decision to award the project developers a $10 million grant. The grant was announced June 28 and was one of 21, totaling $76 million. House Speaker Sal DiMasi and state Rep. Byron Rushing, who both represent the South End, oppose the grant because they said developers promised they would construct the project with private funds. State Sen. Dianne Wilkerson, who represents the South End, championed the grant.

Conducted by Frank Tocci, deputy director for financial services for the BRA, the meeting lasted less than an hour and was attended by only two members of the public, Irena Burns of Arlington Street and Ned Flaherty of the South End, who has been a vocal critic of the project. It addressed an application by Arthur Winn and Roger Cassin, the developers of the air-rights project, for the tax-exempt bonds to go toward building a hotel and restaurant. The Columbus Center, which has been in development for more than a decade, would be built over the Massachusetts Turnpike, parcels 16, 17, 18, and 19, between Clarendon and Tremont streets; the bonds would only be applicable to building the hotel on Parcel 16.

The project is currently expected to cost more than $700 million, according to Alan Eisner, a spokesman for the developers, nearly double the initial cost estimates. The $35 million bond would offset rising construction costs, which Eisner said is behind the Columbus Center?s inflating price tag. However, the savings to the developer as a result of the bond being tax exempt would only be around $5 to $7 million, he said.

Much of the controversy around the Columbus Center and the recent $10 million grant awarded by the state to offset the cost of building a $140 million deck over the Turnpike has had to do with the recollection of residents, activists and politicians that the developers initially claimed that they would build the project without public funds. But Eisner said that the developers never promised to build the project without public assistance. ?What they said was that, this was way back when the price of the project was much, much lower, that they didn?t anticipate seeking any funds at that time, but that they did not rule it out for the future,? Eisner said.

Eisner also said that the developers have received a $2 million community development action grant from the state department of Housing and Community Development, a $20 million MassHousing loan, and the $10 million grant from the state ? in all, ?a very small percentage of a $700 million-plus project.?

The Columbus Center project is eligible for the tax-exempt bonds because of a recent Empowerment Zone designation covering the air rights parcels through the Massachusetts Turnpike. The designation is administered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and was created to stimulate business growth and economy in ?distressed communities,? according to HUD?s Web site, by making low-interest loans and tax credits available to businesses within the zones in return for job creation and growth.

The Empowerment Zone in Boston was expanded to include air rights parcels over the Turnpike from Brookline to the Southeast Expressway ? an expanse covering already-developed parcels like the Prudential Center. In addition to being eligible for the low-interest bond, the Columbus Center could also receive tax credits for employees on the company payroll living within the Empowerment Zone and reduced capital gains taxes.

According to Tocci, the hotel and restaurant will create 234 jobs for the community, after the project is built.

Around $130 million was set aside in tax-exempt bonds for Boston-area Empowerment Zone initiatives; the funds must be designated for developers by Dec. 31, 2009, when the $130 million allocation expires. Other projects that have benefited from the Empowerment Zone designation and the tax-exempt bonds include the Crosstown Center in Roxbury and the Fenway Community Health Center. Should the Columbus Center loan be approved, $32 million will remain in the Empowerment Zone allocation.

The bond has already been approved by Boston Connects, Inc., the city nonprofit charged with locally administering the Empowerment Zones. Wednesday?s hearing was mandated by the federal government as part of the bond approval process and represented the public?s opportunity to comment directly to BIDFA about the loan.

The members of the community who attended the meeting raised a few questions about the loan and if BIDFA was aware of the whole financial picture surrounding the Columbus Center?s other applications for public funds or loans. Tocci was unable to answer that question at the time. Most of the other questions raised at the hearing came from members of the media, who outnumbered the area residents.

Following this hearing, the bond will now have to go before the City Council for a hearing before returning to BIDFA for approval, and then to the state?s Development Finance Agency for ultimate approval. The whole process should take 60 to 90 days, said Tocci, and no date has been set for a City Council hearing. Tocci also said that though no interest rate has been established for the bond, it would likely be a half to one percent lower than market rate.

Though there is no timeline yet for the project, Eisner said that, should all the financing come through, the developers hope to begin construction by the end of the summer. Eisner said that as of this point, the developers have already contributed more than $40 million of their own funds to the project and that no investors have pulled funding from the project.

?The developers is working diligently with the city and state and their own investors to try to put a package together that will allow it to begin by the end of the summer,? said Eisner.

from today's Boston Herald

Project could land millions in low-cost financing
By Scott Van Voorhis
Boston Herald Business Reporter
Thursday, July 12, 2007 - Updated: 12:30 AM EST

Hub developer Arthur Winn and his investors, as they look to get the $700 million Columbus Center project into construction, are applying for tens of millions in low-cost government financing.

Winn?s development team is seeking $32 million in tax-exempt bonds from the Boston Industrial Finance Authority. The project qualifies, city officials contend, because it falls inside an ?empowerment zone,? created under a federal program designed to spur economic development.

The proposed bond financing comes atop a $10 million infrastructure grant the Patrick administration is considering giving to the project.

But some say the use of the low-cost government financing is wrong for the Pike air-rights project, which will straddle Boston?s wealthy Back Bay and South End neighborhoods and feature a deluxe condo/hotel tower.

?This is not a poor area. This is not a job-creating economic development project,?argued Shirley Kressel, head of the Alliance of Boston Neighborhoods.

But project boosters contend Columbus Center, which will create hundreds of permanent hotel and other jobs, is deserving of government assistance.

?These low-interest loans will be used to support job training and job creation associated primarily with the hotel portion of the project,? said Alan Eisner, a spokesman for the developer.

Owners to be liable for new Pike tunnel
By Scott Van Voorhis
Boston Herald Business Reporter
Thursday, July 12, 2007 - Updated: 12:30 AM EST

Columbus Center businesses and condo buyers are in for an unpleasant surprise.

After the $700 million-plus air-rights project over the Turnpike is complete, they will be on the hook for maintaining and inspecting key parts of the lengthy new tunnel created underneath, according to a copy of the lease agreement between Columbus Center?s developers and the Turnpike.

The proposed 1.3 million-square-foot development, featuring a deluxe condo and hotel tower, is designed to cover what is now an ugly highway canyon near the Hancock Tower. In doing so, it would create a roughly quarter-mile tunnel underneath its massive highway deck.

And should there be another fatal mishap along the lines of last year?s Big Dig tunnel ceiling collapse, it will be Columbus Center?s residents and tenants who will be on the hook, records show.

This offloading of liability, critics argue, is the wrong direction for the Turnpike amid ongoing questions about the highway authority?s oversight role in last year?s fatal Big Dig tunnel roof collapse.

?My first reaction is I couldn?t possibly be reading this lease correctly,? said Ned Flaherty, a neighborhood activist and Columbus Center opponent who discovered the inspection and liability shift in the project?s lease agreement.

In particular, Columbus Center?s owners and tenants will be responsible for hiring a consultant to inspect and maintain the fireproofing in the tunnel under the project, as well as key supports, said Turnpike spokesman Jon Carlisle.

Meanwhile, Turnpike officials will directly inspect key life safety systems, such as ventilation, he added.

Carlisle said the Turnpike authority learned valuable lessons from last year?s tragedy.

?I think the lessons of July 10, 2006 are still very strong with us, not just for existing tunnels, but tunnels that may be created in the future,? he said.

 

[stellarfun]

new graphic from today's Globe, accompanying an article about Columbus Center getting more state and local financing.

 

[KentXie]

$10m more sought for Columbus Center
By Thomas C. Palmer Jr., Globe Staff | July 13, 2007

The developers of the Columbus Center project in Boston, already under fire for a $10 million state grant to help with site preparation, are pushing for another $10 million from the Patrick administration.

And, despite criticism from some Democrats in the Massachusetts House , city and state officials appear supportive of the additional infusion of public funds.

Developers Arthur Winn and Roger Cassin originally requested $20 million in state aid for the project to help build the concrete platform over the Massachusetts Turnpike on which parts of the complex would sit. Last month the Patrick administration awarded the developers $10 million. At the time, the administration did not address the request for the other $10 million.

The Legislature has repeatedly declined to provide state development funds for Columbus Center; the funds awarded to the developers last month did not require legislative approval.

Legislative opponents renewed their attacks on the use of public funds for private development yesterday. "This is not an appropriate use of the job creation funds that the Legislature set aside in the economic stimulus package," Representative Martha M. Walz, a Back Bay Democrat who criticized the award of the first $10 million, said yesterday.

Winn and Cassin have also asked a city development agency to issue $32.5 million in tax-free Empowerment Zone bonds, which they would repay.

Boston officials, frustrated at watching Columbus Center sit on the drawing board for four years after it received city approval, this week said the project deserves the additional money. In addition, the Menino administration supports the use of the Empowerment Zone bonds for Columbus Center.

"It's our sense that these public monies are the only way this project is going to get off the ground," said Harry Collings, executive secretary of the Boston Redevelopment Authority. "We feel the benefits far outweigh the public money's participation."

Winn and Cassin calculate that they will contribute a total of about $53 million in public benefits and construction mitigation measures, including three parks and future park maintenance, 45 affordable housing units on site, 20 or so affordable units off site, recharging of groundwater wells in the area, and subsidies to future occupants including a day-care center and grocery store. The project itself will generate 2,600 construction jobs and 380 permanent ones.

The developers estimate the project will have received a total of $59.6 million from a variety of public financing sources, including loans, grants, and the value of the city bonds -- not counting the additional request of $10 million from the state.

A representative of the Massachusetts Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development, which would have to approve the remaining $10 million request, declined to say yesterday whether the Patrick administration would sign off on the funds, but made clear it strongly supports the Columbus Center project.

"Our goal is to get the shovel in the ground and the project moving forward," said Kofi Jones, a spokeswoman for the agency. A spokesman for Winn and Cassin said yesterday that, after a decade of planning, delays, and long searches for sufficient private and public financing to cover the massive residential, hotel, retail, and open-space development's cost, the additional funds should be enough to get the project started.

The developers also said the total cost is now estimated at $800 million -- up from an estimated $300 million six years ago.

Critics of the project again insisted that the developers had pledged in some of the 100-plus public hearings over the years not to seek public funding.

"Public subsidies paying for public benefits through a private entity that makes a profit doesn't make a lot of sense to me," David S. Mundel, a South End resident and opponent of Columbus Center, said yesterday. "Do we really want the project, given what they expect us to pay for it, or could we do better?"

Winn and Cassin have repeatedly denied they made any pledge to forgo public funds. In fact, they have argued that public financing was always contemplated on projects built on air rights of the turnpike corridor.

They cited "A Civic Vision for Turnpike Air Rights in Boston," a 2000 document published by the Boston Redevelopment Authority that set guidelines for design and development of projects over the turnpike in the city.

The concrete platform that would be funded in part by the state assistance is crucial to making those turnpike air rights available for the Columbus Center development.

"Air rights can help achieve longstanding urban design and public realm goals," the document states. "Meeting these goals will require an aggressive effort to obtain public and private funds."

Collings, who followed the permitting and review process closely, said this week he had reviewed the history and spoken with others who attended the meetings.

"There's no recollection a guarantee was made," he said. "There may have been a mention that 'at this time it isn't anticipated' there would be public funding. But there was never any anticipation that costs would spiral the way they have since."

When Winn and Cassin were designated as the developers of the air-rights space by the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority in 1997, Columbus Center's cost was pegged at about $300 million. But the costs of steel and other construction materials have escalated by up to 20 percent a year.

"Public subsidies paying for public benefits through a private entity that makes a profit doesn't make a lot of sense to me," David S. Mundel, a South End resident and opponent of Columbus Center, said yesterday. "Do we really want the project, given what they expect us to pay for it, or could we do better?"

They weren't expecting us to pay for years back and yet he whined back then and trust me, if they can do any better, the NIMBYs would have fought it to death anyways. They need to just shut up and get it done.

 

[stellarfun]

Rendering of a pathway park for Columbus Center. From:
http://www.pressleyinc.com/portfolio/columbusctr_green.html