Pinnacle at Central Wharf (Harbor Garage) | 70 East India Row | Waterfront | Downtown

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If they are so interested in 'saving the waterfront' why is there not a peep about a huge salt pile being proposed for Massport Marine Terminal. The City came out last week saying that salt is an environmental hazard and a hardship on the residents of Eastie and Chelsea, why is there no opposition to putting this in Southie?
not sure why I was quoted? Im certainly not defending the aquarium or CLF.
 
not sure why I was quoted? Im certainly not defending the aquarium or CLF.
Sorry, didn't mean to imply that, just pointing out how CLF and NEAQ are so 'concerned' about saving the waterfront that they will sue to block a resilient development but have no interest in stopping a massive salt pile in South Boston. Pure mercenaries and they should be exposed.
 
I'm actually feeling bad for this poor bastard now regardless of if he's a good person or not... he's got the aquarium blatantly blackmailing him for a huge payoff and he's got the obviously very DEEPLY connected Harbor Tower residents misaligning their own super selfish motivations with altruistic, liberal intentions. "wHaT aBoUt tHe REsIdeNtS of CHINATOWN???" This is some trumponian dissonance good luck to you Chioforo because you are completely screwed. I would cut my losses if I were him.

What losses is he cutting? He's making millions of dollars each year in profits on the garage and despite stellar's insinuation I've seen nothing reported about the structure needing major repairs anytime soon. Basically he has a financial incentive to keep the garage exactly as is unless he's allowed to replace it with something more profitable.
 
What losses is he cutting? He's making millions of dollars each year in profits on the garage and despite stellar's insinuation I've seen nothing reported about the structure needing major repairs anytime soon. Basically he has a financial incentive to keep the garage exactly as is unless he's allowed to replace it with something more profitable.
Its a phrase not sure if you've heard it or not, it doesnt mean he has to have financial losses for it to be accurate. But to play along, his time and efforts, architects drawing up plans, lawyers etc etc.
 
So what is the actual timeline of future events with the garage? When does the Harbor tower parking easement end? Their mechanical easement? how long until the garage is structurally in need of a renovation?

I'm sure I could dig back and find this else where on the site but I feel like someone might know this and be able to answerer more easily.
The HT parking space easement ends on February 28, 2022. On March 1, 2022, unless other arrangements are made, there presumably is no guaranteed space for HT residents, and they pay market rate.

The HT mechanicals easement runs in perpetuity.
____________________
Structural Integrity of the garage:

Construction of the garage was completed in 1972. Next year, it will be 50 years old.

Several large MBTA parking garages were closed recently because the concrete was crumbling. A major section of Alewife (built in 1985) was closed in 2018 because concrete was falling on cars. Braintree and Quincy Adams (built in the early 80s) were closed more recently, again to undertake major structural repairs to failing concrete..

The Winthrop Square was built in 1952, significantly expanded in 1967, and closed in 2013 because of major structural issues. The garage lasted 46 years from its last construction.

Section 101 of the LDA [Land Disposition Agreement], in turn, defines *Term of the Plan" as "the period of forty years commencing upon the aforesaid approval of the Plan by the Boston City Council." ... Thus, the LDA, on its face, grants the "Redeveloper" or its successors the express right to outright "demolish" the Garage on or after June 8, 2004 (i.e., forty years after the Boston City Council approved the Plan).
https://www.clf.org/wp-content/uplo...ion-on-Harbor-Towers-Beaton-Mot-Dismiss-2.pdf

It seems to me that the architects (I M Pei) / structural engineers designing the garage would take note of the prospective 40-year garage lifetime set out in the City's plan for developing this property, and not build the proverbial brick shithouse. (HT was built as affordable rental property.)

So, IMO, the likelier possibility is that the garage is at/near the end of its design life, and, unless demolished, major repairs will be needed, sooner rather than later. But perhaps it indeed was built like the proverbial brick shithouse, and its good for another 50 years.
________________
Ownership of the Harbor Garage:

The garage is owned by Rams Head Development Corp. (RHDC), an REIT created by Prudential Real Estate Investors in New Jersey Chiofaro has never owned the garage, even a partial stake. He is acting as the agent of RHDC, the representative in Boston of RHDC, and acts on their behalf. If Chiofaro had even a minimal ownership stake, he would be a named defendant in the lawsuits brought by HT residents and CLF.

From Bloomberg
Prudential Real Estate Investors provides investment management services. The Company manages separate client focused equity and fixed income portfolios. Prudential also offers various investment opportunities including open and closed-end commingled funds, private and public real estate investment trusts, specialized higher return strategies, and international investments.

The tax implications of investing in an REIT are explained here:
 
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The HT parking space easement ends on February 28, 2022. On March 1, 2022, unless other arrangements are made, there presumably is no guaranteed space for HT residents, and they pay market rate.

The HT mechanicals easement runs in perpetuity.
____________________
Structural Integrity of the garage:

Construction of the garage was completed in 1972. Next year, it will be 50 years old.

Several large MBTA parking garages were closed recently because the concrete was crumbling. A major section of Alewife (built in 1985) was closed in 2018 because concrete was falling on cars. Braintree and Quincy Adams (built in the early 80s) were closed more recently, again to undertake major structural repairs to failing concrete..

The Winthrop Square was built in 1952, significantly expanded in 1967, and closed in 2013 because of major structural issues. The garage lasted 46 years from its last construction.


https://www.clf.org/wp-content/uplo...ion-on-Harbor-Towers-Beaton-Mot-Dismiss-2.pdf

It seems to me that the architects (Pelli) / structural engineers designing the garage would take note of the prospective 40-year garage lifetime set out in the City's plan for developing this property, and not build the proverbial brick shithouse. (HT was built as affordable rental property.)

So, IMO, the likelier possibility is that the garage is at/near the end of its design life, and, unless demolished, major repairs will be needed, sooner rather than later. But perhaps it indeed was built like the proverbial brick shithouse, and its good for another 50 years.
________________
Ownership of the Harbor Garage:

The garage is owned by Rams Head Development Corp. (RHDC), an REIT created by Prudential Real Estate Investors in New Jersey Chiofaro has never owned the garage, even a partial stake. He is acting as the agent of RHDC, the representative in Boston of RHDC, and acts on their behalf. If Chiofaro had even a minimal ownership stake, he would be a named defendant in the lawsuits brought by HT residents and CLF.

From Bloomberg


The tax implications of investing in an REIT are explained here:

Thank you! This is exactly what i was looking for. It seems everything is coming to a head over the next year or so. we will see how it all plays out.
 
Ownership of the Harbor Garage:

The garage is owned by Rams Head Development Corp. (RHDC), an REIT created by Prudential Real Estate Investors in New Jersey Chiofaro has never owned the garage, even a partial stake. He is acting as the agent of RHDC, the representative in Boston of RHDC, and acts on their behalf. If Chiofaro had even a minimal ownership stake, he would be a named defendant in the lawsuits brought by HT residents and CLF.

I didn't realize that the garage owners were being sued by CLF & HT, I thought it was just the State but I probably missed it.
 
I didn't realize that the garage owners were being sued by CLF & HT, I thought it was just the State but I probably missed it.
The residents of HT sued RHDC claiming they had an easement into perpetuity for their hundreds of parking spaces. In the judge's decision, he referenced that the easement provided three spaces for every four units. There are over 600 units. The HT residents also sued the Commonwealth over the approval of the Municipal Harbor Plan.

The CLF sued the Commonwealth, claiming among other things, that the Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs lacked the authority to approve the Municipal Harbor Plan..

The two cases were consolidated by the court.

The HT residents first claim that their parking spaces were provided by 'prior public use' doctrine was dismissed.

The court addressed and dismissed the HT second claim, as follows:
The Harbor Towers Plaintiffs read the language "running with the land" in Section 302(a), and view the lack of an explicit expiration date in that section, as indicating an intention to make their parking rights under the LDA permanent. .... The Harbor Towers Plaintiffs' interpretation of the LDA is wrong as a matter of law. The LDA, construed as a whole, unambiguously recognizes and confirms that the Harbor Towers Plaintiffs possess the right to park in the Garage for a fixed period of years, not in perpetuity.
[Bolding mine]

The CLF claim regarding the authority of the Secretary to approve the Municipal Harbor Plan
Count I of the CLF Complaint alleges that the Department [of Environmental Protection] has effectively and unlawfully abrogated its duties and responsibilities under Chapter 91 to protect public tidelands by delegating responsibility for reviewing all draft MHPs to the Secretary
The court found this to be a viable claim. and it was not dismissed. This claim formed the substance of the recent 2021 decision by the court that the Secretary did not have the authority to approve [17] Municipal Harbor Plans.

The HT residents and CLF sought declaratory judgments with respect to the Secretary's decision to approve the Downtown Municipal Harbor Plan. These claims were denied, largely based on a prior court decision disallowing similar claims by residents who lived near the proposed re-development of Lovejoy Wharf.

The HT residents and CLF also sought to have the court issue a writ of mandamus. this was also dismissed by the court.
Here, neither the Harbor Towers Plaintiffs, nor the CLF Plaintiffs are entitled to relief in the nature of mandamus because the orders they seek would require the Court to command the State Defendants to undo what already has been done (e.g., invalidate or ignore the Downtown MHP), and/or to do it over again "in a new and different manner" (e.g., comply with the APA in any rulemaking concerning public tidelands development); As previously noted, mandamus simply is not available for such purposes. See Boston Med. Ctr. Corp, 463 Mass. at470. All of Plaintiffs' mandamus claims necessarily fail as a result.

To summarize, the HT residents lost on all of its claims. The CLF succeeded in only one of its claims, that of the Secretary lacking the authority to approve the MHP plans.
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The HT parking space easement ends on February 28, 2022. On March 1, 2022, unless other arrangements are made, there presumably is no guaranteed space for HT residents, and they pay market rate.

1) Thanks for the helpful, consolidated overview.

2) Notably, when/if the roughly 500 HT parking spaces become market rate on March 1, presumably the garage becomes even more profitable, perhaps considerably so (though I don't have the garage's financial statements and couldn't navigate them if I did).
 
1) I've been in that garage last year, and it appears to be in far better shape than Alewife, and far, far better shape than the Winthrop Square garage. Stellar, no offense, but your speculation regarding this garage has been off base for years. Remember when you used to tell us that Don was losing money on his purchase? Now you're saying he never owned it and it is making money but is soon to be structurally deficient based on......no evidence whatsoever?

2) to that point, if Don is just a figurehead for a soulless out of town corporation, why in God's name have they kept him around all these years as the guy the Globe keeps referring to as the owner? Way back when Chiofaro was at the top of Menino's shit list, wouldn't they have fired him then and there to get in good with the mayor who controlled all development? Your speculation makes no sense and I'm curious what your answer is. If he has no significant stake in the project, logic dictates they would have gotten rid of him and hired Samuels or some other connected developer eons ago.
 
The HT parking space easement ends on February 28, 2022. On March 1, 2022, unless other arrangements are made, there presumably is no guaranteed space for HT residents, and they pay market rate.

The HT mechanicals easement runs in perpetuity.
____________________
Structural Integrity of the garage:

Construction of the garage was completed in 1972. Next year, it will be 50 years old.

Several large MBTA parking garages were closed recently because the concrete was crumbling. A major section of Alewife (built in 1985) was closed in 2018 because concrete was falling on cars. Braintree and Quincy Adams (built in the early 80s) were closed more recently, again to undertake major structural repairs to failing concrete..

The Winthrop Square was built in 1952, significantly expanded in 1967, and closed in 2013 because of major structural issues. The garage lasted 46 years from its last construction.


https://www.clf.org/wp-content/uplo...ion-on-Harbor-Towers-Beaton-Mot-Dismiss-2.pdf

It seems to me that the architects (Pelli) / structural engineers designing the garage would take note of the prospective 40-year garage lifetime set out in the City's plan for developing this property, and not build the proverbial brick shithouse. (HT was built as affordable rental property.)

So, IMO, the likelier possibility is that the garage is at/near the end of its design life, and, unless demolished, major repairs will be needed, sooner rather than later. But perhaps it indeed was built like the proverbial brick shithouse, and its good for another 50 years.
________________
Ownership of the Harbor Garage:

The garage is owned by Rams Head Development Corp. (RHDC), an REIT created by Prudential Real Estate Investors in New Jersey Chiofaro has never owned the garage, even a partial stake. He is acting as the agent of RHDC, the representative in Boston of RHDC, and acts on their behalf. If Chiofaro had even a minimal ownership stake, he would be a named defendant in the lawsuits brought by HT residents and CLF.

From Bloomberg


The tax implications of investing in an REIT are explained here:

He likely owns a piece of the general partner entity of RHDC which is where he would earn his carried interest. No reason for him to own the garage individually.
 
Some more candidate comments in the debate last night:


On a related note, performative environmentalism at its best:

1621941410477.png
 
Some more candidate comments in the debate last night:


On a related note, performative environmentalism at its best:

View attachment 13333
Intriguing. Proposing the most expensive park in the City's history (because you have to buy the very profitable Harbor Garage).
 
Intriguing. Proposing the most expensive park in the City's history (because you have to buy the very profitable Harbor Garage).

Simply playing creative thinking here...
What if the garage were acquired via land swap deal, assuming the city had a sufficiently valuable parcel attractive for building a skyscraper upon, and the deal was contingent upon Chiofaro burying the garage/building a park at its present site. IF (and it's a big IF) the swapped land were attractive enough for Chiofaro's project, there could be some net $ saved because the only thing more expensive than building a multi-story underground waterproofed/oceanside garage is building one of those with an integral foundation system for a skyscraper. The deal could be further sweetened by giving Chiofaro the rights to parking revenues from a portion of the new underground harbor garage. Presumably the new tower on swapped land would also have an underground garage that was much cheaper to build (and likely much smaller). No idea if the numbers could ever work for this, the only points of this comment is to agree that an all-cash deal from the city to buy the Harbor Garage is impossible/ridiculous, and yet it's fun to do crazy creative thinking.
 
Rover, I too believed Chiofaro had an ownership stake in the garage. So it was to my great surprise that I did not find either his name, or the name of his company, as a defendant in the law suit.

As to the relationship between Prudential and Chiofaro, that dates back to the bankruptcy of IP in 2004.
See:
https://www.bizjournals.com/boston/stories/2004/05/03/daily55.html

Early this spring, the New York-based Tishman Speyer Properties paid $596 million in an auction to purchase the $620 million mortgage loan and $26 million in other debts from the lender, Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association, also based in New York. In May, affiliates of the Chiofaro Company, which owns the complex in a joint venture with Hillman Properties of Pittsburgh, filed for bankruptcy in United States District Court here, contending that in the weeks after Tishman obtained the mortgage it had been rejecting sound lease deals in a ''hostile'' attempt to assume ownership.

''The New York crowd is a bunch of pirates,'' the president and founder of the Chiofaro Company, Donald J. Chiofaro, said in a statement. While his business is not insolvent, Mr. Chiofaro said, he hopes through the bankruptcy process to reduce its mortgage interest rate from more than 7 percent to 6 percent or less. Then, he said, ''we'll send the interlopers back to Gotham.''
https://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/21/...-extra-dose-of-rivalry-in-property-fight.html

The Times article includes this exchange between Robert Popeo, the attorney for Tishman Speyer and Chiofaro.
Without bankruptcy protection, Mr. Chiofaro's ''budget shows eventual default because he has no equity,'' Mr. Popeo added. ''Then Tishman would resolve issues with the owner or foreclose and become the owner.''

Mr. Chiofaro disputed his adversary's contention that he had no equity in the development. ''I don't think Tishman bought it because they thought it would be worth less than the $600 million,'' he said, referring to the $596 million Tishman paid for the financing.

For a recent profile of Popeo, see:
https://www.bostonherald.com/2019/09/16/top-boston-lawyer-wields-clout-to-help-community/

If Popeo said that Chiofaro had no equity in IP, I tend to believe Popeo. In any event, later that year, Prudential came to Chiofaro's rescue on IP.

Chiofaro to keep stake in towers Tishman Speyer will get $679m under accord
By Thomas C. Palmer Jr., Globe Staff | December 18, 2004
Developer Donald J. Chiofaro will hang onto partial ownership of the two International Place office towers under an agreement reached yesterday in his high-profile bankruptcy case.
But Tishman Speyer Properties, which unsuccessfully tried to wrest control of the 1.8 million-square-foot complex by buying Chiofaro's loan, will be paid $679 million under the agreement.
That's $83 million more than the New York real estate firm paid for the International Place loan only last March.

"This is a great result," said R. Robert Popeo, chairman of Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo PC, lead counsel for Tishman Speyer, who gave details of the settlement agreement. "We were willing to take the risk and got a very substantial return on our investment."

The usually voluble Chiofaro confined his comments yesterday to a statement that said, "It's a win for Boston. We're thrilled to have achieved our objectives. Our partners are happy. The best stories are those with happy endings."

Chiofaro's main objective was to maintain a share of ownership, which he did, though it's a reduced share -- in what is one of Boston's best-known office towers. In addition to the $679 million, Chiofaro and his partners, including Prudential Real Estate Investors of Parsippany, N.J., will pay Tishman Speyer more than $2 million in other claims.
http://archive.boston.com/business/globe/articles/2004/12/18/chiofaro_to_keep_stake_in_towers/
-------------------------------
With respect to the structural condition of the HT garage, I am not a structural engineer and don't profess to be one. However, I have had several lengthy conversations with structural engineers, one who works for a national firm with an office in Boston, and the other is an adjunct engineering professor at a major university in New York City. Those conversations concerned a building that was experiencing significant rust-jacking. From Wiki,
...a phenomenon that can cause damage to structures made of stone, masonry, concrete or ceramics, and reinforced with metal components. A definition is "the displacement of building elements due to the expansion of iron and steel products as the metal rusts and becomes iron oxide

Rust-jacking in this particular building had fractured brick and displaced mortar. This allowed even more water to enter, which in turn accelerated the rust-jacking, leading to further compromise of the facade. In the end, the facade could not be saved, and the building is being demolished. So I remain suspicious that rust-jacking could be occurring in the rebar of this concrete garage built at the harbor's edge. Now if you tell me that the Harbor Garage was built without rebar, then my suspicion evaporates.
 
What does IP legal wrangling have to do with the garage? It's probable he set up separate companies for both.

But once again, you've failed to answer a basic question. Why would the owners of the garage keep him around if he has zero or minimal equity in the project? You're never shy when it comes to speculation, so I'm curious why you keep avoiding this one.

Finally it's possible the garage was built a bit more structurally sound since it houses the mechanicals of the HT themselves. Again I've seen zero coverage regarding it nearing the end of its life, and don't you think rabid NIMBY'S would have brought that up by now if it was even remotely true?
 
Intriguing. Proposing the most expensive park in the City's history (because you have to buy the very profitable Harbor Garage).
Barros is posturing, or even pandering. I looked up his profile
BA from Dartmouth in African and African American Studies
MA from Tufts in Public Policy
Honorary Doctorate of Commerce from Suffolk. For the life of me, I have never seen someone claim an honorary degree as an academic credential.

Prudential bought the HT garage for $153 million. The cost of burying a 1400 space garage was estimated at $100,000 a space eleven years ago. Then Prudential needs to be compensated for the money they have spent in architectural and engineering fees, transportation and environmental studies, etc. Prudential has approval from the city to build a 600 foot, 900,000 gsf building on the site, with an expected return on their investment, so that becomes a factor. In any event, Barros proposition will probably run run $400 million or more to carry out. Further, the city couldn't and wouldn't pay for maintaining and operating the Greenway, because supposedly, the city could not afford to do so. Thus, the Conservancy. So for my money, Barros is an empty suit.

They [Chiofaro and Ted Oatis, his now-deceased partner] say it would cost about $100,000 per space, or about $140 million, to put the garage underground.
published July 27,2010

The magazine article includes this sentence with respect to ownership. " Chiofaro and Oatis paid $153 million for the garage in 2007 "
 
What does IP legal wrangling have to do with the garage? It's probable he set up separate companies for both.

But once again, you've failed to answer a basic question. Why would the owners of the garage keep him around if he has zero or minimal equity in the project? You're never shy when it comes to speculation, so I'm curious why you keep avoiding this one.

Finally it's possible the garage was built a bit more structurally sound since it houses the mechanicals of the HT themselves. Again I've seen zero coverage regarding it nearing the end of its life, and don't you think rabid NIMBY'S would have brought that up by now if it was even remotely true?
Prudential is majority owner of IP, Chiofaro is minority owner of IP. They are in business together.
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Harbor Towers was built in 1971. In the years since, very little was done to the two buildings to keep them up to modern standards. No major renovations were performed, and no major upgrades were made. Perhaps not surprisingly, by 2007, most of the buildings' major systems were in dire need of repair or replacement. Due to the size of these buildings, this represented a massive amount of work--and it was going to cost a small fortune, too. In 2007, the condo trustees knew that it was time to act, so they hired a firm to perform an assessment.

The buildings' electrical, ventilation and heating and cooling systems were in such bad shape that they needed major repairs and, in many cases, had to be replaced entirely. Given the scope of the work that would be involved, there was no question that the total cost would be pretty steep. When it was all said and done, however, the final assessment was truly shocking. To have all of the work that needed to be done completed, residents would have to foot a $75.6 million bill.

Upon being told about the assessment, residents of the building, who all owned condos of varying sizes, were understandably upset. In fact, many immediately decided to move out rather than try to come up with the money. For the purposes of this project, residents were not asked to equally split the bill. Instead, the trustees decided to charge each resident approximately 20 percent of the total value of their unit. That way, those with bigger, more expensive units would pay more while those with smaller, less expensive units would pay less. Bills for individual units ran between $70,000 and $400,000. Many residents literally couldn't afford to pay their share and were forced to sell and move out.

In the midst of this controversy, a condo board election took place. Many residents hoped they would prompt another look at the proposed assessment, but the new board continued on the same trajectory. The new board collected a significant portion of the assessment and signed a contract with a new construction firm in October. Residents' complaints continued, so the board drafted a 15-page document outlining 53 detailed questions and answers about the project. With everything outlined in detail, most residents realized that the bill was legitimate and that they had no real recourse.
https://bostoncityproperties.com/ar...rs-boston-explaining-the-2007-assessment.html

And in Boston, Harbor Towers Condominiums was hit with a $75.6 million special assessment—believed to be the highest ever in Boston—to cover costs of repairing and replacing the heating and cooling systems of the two waterfront mid-rises. The one-time assessment, ranging from $70,000 to $400,000 per unit owner, led to a bitter political struggle and assertions by some residents that they would have to sell their units to pay the huge bill, due November 29th last year. [2007]

Fortunately for Harbor Towers, the situation has eased, and over 95 percent of the assessment had been collected as of late January, according to a letter from its trustees.
https://newenglandcondo.com/article/the-partys-over/full

Given the cost, I think one can safely assume that the HP residents replaced the mechanicals in the garage back in 2008. (37 years after these were built and installed.)
 
The land-swap idea was something I proposed several years ago when the city was discussing possibly replacing City Hall. Swap City Hall for the Garage. The city can build a new City Hall on the Garage and Chiofaro/Prudential gets the development rights to City Hall Plaza.
 
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