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Massport pays city 2 1/2 cents a year to rent Charlestown land that brings in nearly $100,000 a year in rent
By adamg on Fri, 05/25/2018 - 8:59am
The Charlestown Patriot-Bridge reports on ongoing discussions between city and state elected officials, Massport and the BPDA over the fate of land on the Little Mystic that the then BRA rented to Massport for $1 for a 40-year period for use as the Boston Autoport, which started out as a place to receive cars being shipped to local dealers, but which now has office space for rent as well. Massport's lease on the land runs out next year.
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Comments
We all know what will happen.
The city will do nothing and the BRA will pocket the meager revenues from a re-upping of the sweetheart deal they've given Massport. Time and time again, the mayor and city council have shown that they are not interested in getting the best return on city owned property when they can instead hook up other agencies where their friends and patrons work.
More specifically, why can't the city just cut out Massport and rent directly to Autoport? Leaving aside any discussion of redevelopment...
The times they are a changing
Two city councilors, Annissa Essaibi-George and Lydia Edwards, will be holding a heating on Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) including Passport after the budget is done.
I think the more people understand about rip-offs like these the more they'll scream bloody murder. Then, change will happen.
I want to believe
But then Marty Walsh.
hahahahahahahahahaha!
Oh, you silly, silly people. Remember when bought and paid for Councilor Steven Murphy used to talk about Pilot payments all the time and hold hearings to get to the bottom of this???
What happened to that? Well, nothing happened, and Murphy finally got his velvet coffin job in a field he knows nothing about, he got divorced, married his younger trophy wife who now also has her cushy job in government.
Remember when Walsh was running for Mayor and talking about reforming the BRA? How did that go?
It is so nice to be wealthy and to laugh at your foolish notions.
You could actually show up at
You could actually show up at the hearing to say your peace and, you know, work on being part of the solution.
Or just be a sad curmudgeon on the internet. Too many people enjoy the second option.
What's that?
Brian, did you change your screen name?
Everyone's an expert ..
Which parcels are in question? The article (which is great, btw) says the parcel(s) is 94,199 square feet, but I can't find any parcel in that area that matches that total.
There are two parcels that the BRA owns in that area, which seems to be the parcels mentioned in that article, but the square footage is much larger, over 200,000 square feet. (EDIT: Labeled "Little Mystic Area" on the Google Map I link to, below.)
My guess is that they are one in the same since there doesn't appear to be any other parcels up there that are owned by the BRA. (Massport's land shows as leased to the Autoport business in the city's assessing database.)
Could these parcels be leased directly to Autoport? I guess, but wouldn't that company prefer dealing with one landlord (Massport)?
Is the value of those parcels really taking the total rent for the Autoport parcels divided by total square footage and multiplying by the parcels' square footage? Eh, that's not a great way to calculate value. The value of those 2 parcels is too tied to the value of all the parcels together; the sum of the parts does not equal the sum of the total.
Could the parcels be turned into green space? Sure. Some of the land is already in use as a boat ramp, however.
Could it be housing? Eh, it's got a nice view of the river but it's surrounded on 3 sides by a lurking bridge, a four-lane road, and .. the Autoport parking lots on the other side of the road.
http://app01.cityofboston.gov/ParcelViewer/?pid=0202737000
https://goo.gl/maps/Wz9jXRZ4Xkm
Autoport lease
Ok, so you seem to be arguing that Autoport wanting to deal with one landlord should just override any concern about the split between the city and Massport so the city gets pennies a year while Massport gets a fat check? Why should our ranking of concerns go Autoport, Massport then the city? I'm fine with keeping Autoport there based on my understanding of it but I'm not ok with the distribution of that rent.
94,199 square feet, ... much
94,199 square feet, ... much larger, over 200,000
Buildable/usable square footage of the parcel, vs. total square footage?
Puts AirBnB of Southie Public Housing Apt. into perspective
$36/nite for an "authentic urban living situation" since 2016 is beans in comparison. MassPort must need the money to pay more than State Police F Troop off the books.
Bad Headline
The headline on this article is ....
Actually, the headline should be ...
Who knows
Does seem.ridiculous, but in 1979 the city was in much different shape and maybe it was better having someone to take care of the land rather than let it lay fallow. City will now make a pretty penny off of this.
Unless they try to pull a winthrop sq garage deal. But I digress....
Concurrently:
Somerville looks to allow priority to tenants to seek "non-profit" assistance, to purchase property, before said property goes on market.
(Cough. Vinfen. Cough. State Funding. Cough Again.)