The massive Suffolk Downs project has only one apartment built so far, leading state Sen. Lydia Edwards to call for Boston to make developer HYM Investment Group an “offer they can’t refuse” to buy the project. Image courtesy of CBT Architects
Tom O’Brien is one of Boston’s most successful developers.
But like so many of his peers, he’s got a noticeable lack of shovels in the ground.
Groundbreakings for new apartments, condominiums and pretty much everything else have stalled out in Boston amid a brutal financing climate and ramped-up affordability and green energy mandates from City Hall as well.
These are difficult times, and O’Brien and his HYM Investment Group are in the thick of it, battling to gain traction on some of the more ambitious projects ever proposed in Boston.
O’Brien had great success with the NorthPoint project, now called “Cambridge Crossing” and home to thousands of people next to a revamped Lechmere MBTA station, and with the first half of the Bulfinch Crossing high-rise development near Government Center.
But again, these are difficult times, and HYM’s plans to build a massive new neighborhood at the old Suffolk Downs racetrack, including more than 10,000 new housing units, have moved forward more slowly than anticipated.
The first building, the 475-unit Amaya, is now open, as well as an interim activation/event space next door to the apartment building, The Yard @ Beachmont Square.
The company recently landed $5 million in state tax credits to help get the second apartment building there underway, but a full financing package seemingly still out of reach despite the Amaya’s notably rapid lease-up.
All of which has left O’Brien vulnerable to pressure from local pols unhappy with the pace of development – or maybe just looking to stir the pot in the wake of his never-quite-executed run for mayor of Boston this spring.
Tom O’Brien. Photo courtesy of HYM
A Not-So-Subtle Threat
A recent Boston Magazine piece about that plunge never taken suggests that O’Brien got cold feet thanks to fear of retribution from City Hall and pressure from investors to stay on as head of HYM Investment Group.
State Sen. Lydia Edwards, a close ally of Mayor Michelle Wu, told the reporter, Boston Magazine senior editor Catherin Elton, that she wants Boston to force a sale of O’Brien’s Suffolk Downs acreage.
Interestingly, Edwards had some nice things to say about O’Brien for the story, noting he voluntarily applied stricter fair housing rules to his project and backed Wu in her bid to raise tax rates on commercial buildings.
But she also told the magazine that she regrets not insisting, when she was a city councilor representing East Boston and area around Suffolk Downs, on a time limit for the zoning approvals for O’Brien’s project.
“People are wondering what the hell is going on,” Edwards told Boston Magazine. “It’s a 20-year project, and we are five years in, and we have one building.”
Then Edwards dropped this bombshell: “I’m currently trying to get the city to purchase the project, to make them an offer they can’t refuse.”
That certainly sounds like eminent domain, which is by definition an offer that a developer or property owner can’t refuse.
Scott Van Voorhis
Cool Under Pressure
But if O’Brien is worried, it certainly wasn’t coming across when I recently interviewed him.
“You have to keep your head up and keep moving forward,” O’Brien said, when asked about the implied threat by Edwards, whose state senate district includes East Boston and Suffolk Downs. “I don’t really look back.”
Clearly the pressure is mounting, and O’Brien knows it. He’s also likely hard at work on various deals related to Suffolk Downs and his other projects, so it will be interesting to see what happens in the coming months.
“I love doing this work,” O’Brien said of his work as a developer in Boston. “I will still continue to be up every single day. I love it.”
And as far as his interest in running for public office, don’t be surprised to see O’Brien throw his hat in the ring again at some point, though, he added that it “certainly won’t be happening in 2025.”
O’Brien, by all accounts, has had a long-standing interest in politics and public service.
And he has spent years honing his skills, deftly moving projects through Boston’s contentious development permitting process – on both sides of the table.
Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino was a sharp judge of political talent. And he pretty clearly saw a potential rival in O’Brien, who served as the late mayor’s development chief in the 1990s, hammering out the plans for what would become the Seaport, before being forced out and going into the private sector.
“I care deeply about the city,” O’Brien said. “It’s been my home all my life. I have worked here for 35 years on a range of different projects that have hopefully improved the civic life of the city.”
Scott Van Voorhis is Banker & Tradesman’s columnist and publisher of the Contrarian Boston newsletter; opinions expressed are his own. He may be reached at sbvanvoorhis@hotmail.com.
