The Hub on Causeway (née TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

Key word being advisory....

They are to advise, not dictate.
 
Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

I'm either getting old or stupid b/c this is the second project where I'm rather annoyed at the way development is getting approved.

Both this and the Skanska project on Boylston Street rolled right over neighborhood concerns that, to me, are legit.

It's the process that pisses me off, not the end result.

You know, people spend an enormous amount of time working to improve their neighborhoods. These are people who actually live there. They annoy the shit out of me, too, in more than half the cases, but on occasion, they get it right.

The IAG for the South End put together some great plans for the New York Streets area and the developers seem to be working within those constraints.

I like the Liberty Mutual building, except for the tax break part (which I complain about endlessly), but it undid what a year's worth of IAG planning had just accomplished.

An even playing field would make me happy. I understand the city thinks zoning is "just a blueprint" as one guy told me, but it's not fair to use it haphazardly.

In other cities, you get added height in return for more benefits. In the Boston Garden case, they got both the height they wanted PLUS a tax break.
 
Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

Menino pushes for tax break to secure Star Market deal for Boston Properties
Craig Douglas
Boston Business Journal
Dec 12, 2013


Boston Mayor Thomas Menino has confirmed that the city is pushing for a multimillion-dollar tax break for Boston Properties as an incentive to build a new 45,000-square-foot Star Market adjacent to the TD Boston Garden.

Thursday's announcement by City Hall confirms previous reports by the Boston Business Journal that a deal involving Boston Properties and Star Market was in the works and that the mayor, despite vocal protests from neighborhood representatives, was pushing to give the $15 billion-dollar property developer tax relief to get the deal done.

The so-called Chapter 121A tax deal, which would provide $7.8 million in property-tax relief over 15 years for Boston Properties' proposed mixed-use development near the Garden, must be approved by the Boston Redevelopment Authority's board. The group is set to vote on the tax proposal as well as the development itself Dec. 19.

"For many years West End residents have asked for an accessible and convenient supermarket and today we can announce that this need will finally be met," said Menino in prepared remarks issued Thursday. “Bringing Star Market to this neighborhood is one of the key community benefits of the Boston Garden redevelopment plan and is considered of immeasurable value to residents of the West End, Bulfinch Triangle, and the North End."

According to the mayor's office, the existing undeveloped parcel generates $350,000 in annual property tax revenue for the city. Post development, the site is expected to annually generate around $2.1 million in new revenue to the city over a 15-year span.

As first reported by the BBJ Dec. 10, Boston Properties (NYSE: BXP) and theDelaware North Cos., owner of the TD Garden, recently notified the city that they had reached “a preliminary business agreement with a major supermarket operator and will announce the details publicly in the near future.” Sources at the time told the BBJ that the developers expected to sign a 45,000-square-foot lease for a Star Market within the next week. The supermarket would be housed in the lower level of the 1.7-million-square-foot mixed-use development to be built on a parking lot in front of the Garden. The entire development is expected to cost roughly $1 billion.

The city's efforts to assist Boston Properties in developing the West End parcel have raised hackles among neighborhood activists. In a letter to the mayor dated Dec. 11, members of the Boston Garden Impact Advisory Group accused the city of ignoring their protests over the height of the project's 45-story residential tower. The group, which was appointed by the city, also has complained about the development's traffic impacts and the appropriateness of the 121A tax agreement, given Boston Properties' financial strength and access to billions in capital.
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http://www.bizjournals.com/boston/r...-pushes-for-tax-break-to-secure.html?page=all
 
Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

It's not really a gift to Boston Properties as much as it is a gift to the Star Market, which would likely be taking on a triple net lease for that space. I think it's a solid plan to bring the right tenant to the area.
 
Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

Was the IAG even concerned about something like a supermarket? If not, they should have been.

So I honestly didn't know that Star Market was still around. I thought they all became Shaws.
 
Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

The North End has been begging for a supermarket for decades, so I assume this was a prime concern of the IAG.

The Porter Square Shaw's just got rebranded back to Star Market, by the way.
 
Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

type001 said:
So I honestly didn't know that Star Market was still around. I thought they all became Shaws.
Click to expand...

They built a brand new Star a few years ago in Chestnut Hill on Route 9. Probably my least favorite supermarket in terms of layout that I have ever set foot in. Star Market desperately needs something like this because Wegman's and Roche Brothers are about to eat their lunch downtown.
 
Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

I thought i heard once that the two brands are still in operation due to union issues. Shaws employees are union and star market are not or something like that. It could all be bs though.
 
Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

Palindrome, that is my understanding as well--though I am not 100% sure.
The parent company of both doubtless realizes it can run a more profitable operation if said operation is not unionized.
Supermarkets, historically, are some of the narrowest profit margin businesses out there. An over-priced, underachieving labor force is the last thing a company needs in opening a flagship store such as this one they are discussing.
Hence it being a Star Market (and the opening of other new Star Markets as well as the conversion of existing shaws to Star Markets).
There's a Star Market here in Dedham (in the building that used to be an Ames, I believe, for you recent historians out there) that is within 3 miles of a Whole Foods, Stop and Shop and Roche Brothers and it has seemingly held it's own. But I digress...
 
Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

All the star markets were branded as shaws when I moved up here in 2006. Then they started converting them back to star a few years back, apparently because it had more brand awareness in boston (the name change also seemed to coincide with renovations). Imo it was too little too late, because absolutly everyone I know still calls them shaws, despite the name change(back). Confuses the hell out of new people.

Honestly I think shaws sounds classier than star, but
 
Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

^ It depends on the generation. Older folks always called them Star Market (or rather, Stah Mahket). Shaws was considered the more upscale rebranding in the 90s, so younger people only really know Shaws brand. The stores are essentially the same after rebranding.
 
Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

Not all the stores adopted the Shaw's name. The Star Market on the Cambridge/Watertown line has been Star through most of last century. It was never branded as a Shaw's.
 
Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

"Chapter 121A tax deal, which would provide $7.8 million in property-tax relief over 15 years... the site is expected to annually generate around $2.1 million in new revenue to the city over a 15-year span."

Can someone explain the economics to me on this? Are the 7.8 and 2.1 in different categories of revenue? Does 15-year span mean per year or total? Basically, do 7.8 and 2.1 cancel each other out?
 
Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

timsox6 said:
"Chapter 121A tax deal, which would provide $7.8 million in property-tax relief over 15 years... the site is expected to annually generate around $2.1 million in new revenue to the city over a 15-year span."

Can someone explain the economics to me on this? Are the 7.8 and 2.1 in different categories of revenue? Does 15-year span mean per year or total? Basically, do 7.8 and 2.1 cancel each other out?
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That's 2.1 annually for a total of $31.5 million. Less the 7.8 tax break, that is $23.7 million in net new revenue over the 15 year period.
 
Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

crash575 said:
Not all the stores adopted the Shaw's name. The Star Market on the Cambridge/Watertown line has been Star through most of last century. It was never branded as a Shaw's.
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Same with Brookline and Chestnut Hill.
 
Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

crash575 said:
Not all the stores adopted the Shaw's name. The Star Market on the Cambridge/Watertown line has been Star through most of last century. It was never branded as a Shaw's.
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But you can still use your shaws loyalty card there....and your receipt says Shaws on it...I think they're the same.
 
Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

617 said:
But you can still use your shaws loyalty card there....and your receipt says Shaws on it...I think they're the same.
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Shaws and Star Market are indeed one and the same organization. They are currently owned by Cerebus Capital Management. They were formerly both owned by SuperValu, Inc., and they've teetered close to the brink of non-existence several times over the past couple of years. The new company seems to be trying to relaunch the companies and has been doing some new things such as ditching loyalty cards and expanding their circulars.

I'm actually somewhat surprised to see them sign on to such an agressive project. If you had asked me about them this time last year, I would have told you there was no way they'd be in business in 2016.
 
Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

jdrinboston said:
Shaws and Star Market are indeed one and the same organization. They are currently owned by Cerebus Capital Management. They were formerly both owned by SuperValu, Inc., and they've teetered close to the brink of non-existence several times over the past couple of years. The new company seems to be trying to relaunch the companies and has been doing some new things such as ditching loyalty cards and expanding their circulars.

I'm actually somewhat surprised to see them sign on to such an agressive project. If you had asked me about them this time last year, I would have told you there was no way they'd be in business in 2016.
Click to expand...

Cerebus is pretty successful private equity firm, I have faith in them. Shaws/Star Market are a local firm (West Bridgewater) so I'm not too surprised to see them sign on here. The residents & city have stated numerous times they didn't want to see a Wegmans go here or another type of specialty super market. This is the best option outside of maybe putting a Roche Bros. or Hannafords there.
 
Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

Shaw's/Star got rid of their loyalty cards a few months ago.

Why would anyone not want a Wegman's, though? That's not a specialty market, it's a general grocer (and the dominant chain in upstate New York).
 
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