Cojapo
October 8th, 2007, 12:33 AM
Columbus Center is set to build
State considers giving additional $10m to long-delayed project
http://i52.tinypic.com/25jaw3s.jpg
http://bostonrealestateobserver.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/04/boston-columbus-center-condos-1.jpg
By Thomas C. Palmer Jr., Globe Staff | October 5, 2007
Following a decade of planning and marathon battles over its pros and cons, the $800 million Columbus Center hotel and residential project will start construction next week above four blocks of the Massachusetts Turnpike in Boston, the developer said yesterday.
The Boston Redevelopment Authority yesterday sent out letters to neighborhood representatives informing them construction would go into high gear soon.
Preconstruction work has been going on for weeks, and a drilling machine, to install concrete piles that will support the buildings over the roadway, is scheduled to arrive Tuesday.
As currently planned, Columbus Center is a 1.45-million-square-foot, six-building complex that includes a 35-story hotel plus residential housing, retail space, parking, and public parks.
It has long been a target of neighborhood critics who argued that Columbus Center is too big and would be too disruptive to the Back Bay and South End, which it is designed to sew together over the highway that now divides them.
And, it almost died from rapidly rising construction costs - from a $300 million budget to the current $800 million - and a slowing residential market.
"It's great a project of this magnitude can be executed by a local developer," said Ronald Druker, a Boston developer who has known Winn for 30 years. "I'd say with great certainty someone from out of town wouldn't have shown the staying power and dedication to see something like this through."
In total, Columbus Center will receive $27 million in grants and tax forgiveness, and at least $48.1 million in below-market-rate loans.
Columbus Center will be built largely on a concrete deck over the Turnpike that developers say will cost about $140 million to build.
Columbus Center includes 450 condominium residences, with 44 to be sold at below market rates. The project is also paying the city enough for another 22 affordable housing units to be built elsewhere in Boston.
The project includes an estimated $60 million in public benefits, including the affordable housing, parks, and groundwater replenishment systems, and is expected to create 360 permanent jobs and bring at least $9 million annually in taxes.
http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w294/cojapo/ColumbusCenter-1.jpg
State considers giving additional $10m to long-delayed project
http://i52.tinypic.com/25jaw3s.jpg
http://bostonrealestateobserver.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/04/boston-columbus-center-condos-1.jpg
By Thomas C. Palmer Jr., Globe Staff | October 5, 2007
Following a decade of planning and marathon battles over its pros and cons, the $800 million Columbus Center hotel and residential project will start construction next week above four blocks of the Massachusetts Turnpike in Boston, the developer said yesterday.
The Boston Redevelopment Authority yesterday sent out letters to neighborhood representatives informing them construction would go into high gear soon.
Preconstruction work has been going on for weeks, and a drilling machine, to install concrete piles that will support the buildings over the roadway, is scheduled to arrive Tuesday.
As currently planned, Columbus Center is a 1.45-million-square-foot, six-building complex that includes a 35-story hotel plus residential housing, retail space, parking, and public parks.
It has long been a target of neighborhood critics who argued that Columbus Center is too big and would be too disruptive to the Back Bay and South End, which it is designed to sew together over the highway that now divides them.
And, it almost died from rapidly rising construction costs - from a $300 million budget to the current $800 million - and a slowing residential market.
"It's great a project of this magnitude can be executed by a local developer," said Ronald Druker, a Boston developer who has known Winn for 30 years. "I'd say with great certainty someone from out of town wouldn't have shown the staying power and dedication to see something like this through."
In total, Columbus Center will receive $27 million in grants and tax forgiveness, and at least $48.1 million in below-market-rate loans.
Columbus Center will be built largely on a concrete deck over the Turnpike that developers say will cost about $140 million to build.
Columbus Center includes 450 condominium residences, with 44 to be sold at below market rates. The project is also paying the city enough for another 22 affordable housing units to be built elsewhere in Boston.
The project includes an estimated $60 million in public benefits, including the affordable housing, parks, and groundwater replenishment systems, and is expected to create 360 permanent jobs and bring at least $9 million annually in taxes.
http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w294/cojapo/ColumbusCenter-1.jpg