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Hmm. How about ...
Is Jerome Rappaport still around?
Put out to pasture
That would be cruelty to the elderly.
In addition to jumping the gun. And the search for an acquisition poohbah only makes em look more pathetic and the underlying structural problems more glaringly obvious.
Somerville and Quincy
This approach worked well for Assembly Row, and may work out well in Union Square. But it was a disaster in Quincy Center when the master developer simply walked away.
Quincy's solution to the failed Quincy Center project
No worries - they just raised property taxes so the residents of Quincy could pay for that big hole in the ground.
*licks lips and grins ear to
*licks lips and grins ear to ear*
of course they do
Of course they want a Master Developer..
You know, to develop all those 'acquired' properties for the Olympics after they big O is done here. You know. build yet more "luxury" condos and sell them to the rich.
Really Boston2024.. we're on to your little scheme. If you can't see that this the "Olympic Push" is nothing more than snatching up avaliable real estate around the city and give it to developers... you really need to get a clue.
On a different note, and I didn't see it posted here.. did anyone read the article about Suffolk Downs being off the table now as a backup event place. My guess is that they figure that resell values in Revere after the big O won't be very high so the land has no value to the Olympics, so why bother using an already empty, but excellent, transit-connected, piece of land, when you can throw people off other properties closer to the city *cough* Widdett Circle *cough*
Edit: The article I reference (from bostonglobe.com so it's a paid article)
They could recruit for this position in Danbury
Or any other Federal stir that houses bent politicians who've fallen afoul of corruption and bribery statutes.
So lemme get this straight
Private developer comes in and buys up all this land cheaply beause it's "industrial". Builds a bunch of stuff for the Olympics (probably on the cheap so the city looks bad) and then the city rezones the whole thing so that if you develop it over 10-15 years the developer rakes it in?
Better idea. Find a place for the existing businesses to go to. Assist them with the move along with buying their land. THEN rezone it and sell it at market value to the developer. Not against the Olympics - but stop the charade of cloaking the land grab in the glory of global sport.
If the Olympics is such a good idea in and of itself - to Cybah's point - build the stadium over at Suffolk Downs. If it doesn't work there, what makes them think it will work any better at Widett - other than the development opportunity they want us to pay for indirectly?
Exactly
I agree. I still don't understand why Suffolk wasn't chosen. I re-read the article again and it does not say why just that they weren't interested in the space for the stadium (maybe the velodome, but Suffolk Downs isn't interested in hosting that)
The article:
https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2015/06/12/suffolk-downs-longer-bac...
Like I said, it's a land grab.. why WOULDN'T you want Suffolk Downs. Very little would have to be done to make this into a stadium.. very little. And no new transit needs to be added. There's more to this than I think they are telling us (but we can figure this out)
maximize future profits
You said it in your earlier post...not enough post-Olympic profit in East Boston.
From a recent Globe article, here's a quote from the mayor that sums it up nicely:
“Widett Circle is an unbelievable opportunity for economic development,” Walsh said. “Put the Olympics aside for a minute. . . . As far as close to downtown, it’s the last undeveloped piece of land left.”
http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2015/06/10/boston-eyes-seaport-parce...
It's making me a little nostalgic for John Fish, who was the only one of the Boston 2024 bunch who spoke about "the power of sport" with any legitimacy (he's long supported sports programs in the city). The rest of them, including the mayor, don't even pretend that it's about anything other than real estate profiteering.
I hate when people call
I hate when people call places like Widett Circle "undeveloped". Even though it's not filled with luxury condos or biotech offices, it's still developed.
But hey, forget about unglamorous stuff like food distribution. Totally not necessary.
well yeah
I did. And Yes that is right, but still...
If these people actually really cared about having the Olympics here and were not after a land grab.. Suffolk and Wonderland would be PERFECT for venues and would be a done deal already. No disruption. Near transit. Near Airport... a lot more good things going for it than Widett Circle.
So yeah, its a total scam and a land grab instead. So to me, its very clear, the Olympics.. or at least Boston2024 is about land grabs for the rich, and not really about bring the games here.
Suffolk construction
Wasn't john Fish one of the guys who started this Olympics bid rolling in the first place?
Yes, but...
He's not a developer - he's in construction.
This is likely to get filled by someone like Millennium. Very good at what they do and extremely competent to pull something like this off. Likely they would hire Suffolk for many of the projects. My beef is we don't need the Olympics to do this per my above post. Acquire, rezone, sell - use proceeds to pay down debt (has anyone seen how fast the cost of debt is rising in the budget - debt service was $129 million in 2013 - three years later it's budgeted at $164 million - growing at about 8% a year - while interest rates have been decreasing. Have no idea where it's all going.
The whole thing is a scam if you ask me
You can bet Suffolk will get a large chunk of the construction. Then you will have the minority owned business getting their share. Somebody's gay, black, disabled veteran sister with Asian baby who just happens to be related to Suffolk somehow and will sub all the work back to them.
Reminds me of the master
Reminds me of the master builders in the Lego Movie
Too Soon?
Too Soon?