Sometimes news stories, no matter how well written and researched, just can’t get to the heart of the matter. And that’s too bad, because if you had a hint of the inside dynamics driving the story, you might just take a very different view.
Just take the coverage of International Place developer Don Chiofaro’s threat to pull the plug on his proposal to tear down an ugly parking garage next to the New England Aquarium and put up a pair of skyscrapers.
City Hall was never going to approve this plan for a whole variety of reasons. And while there is certainly an honest desire to protect the Boston’s new Greenway from being overshadowed by a massive new development, let’s just say there is no love lost between Mayor Thomas M. Menino and Chiofaro.
Boston’s answer to Donald Trump, Chiofaro is just the kind of brash, bold talking developer that has always gotten under the mayor’s skin.
Menino may not be a developer, but he takes very seriously his duty to oversee and help plan Boston’s future – not the least what gets built here. Without the mayor on board, you are not going to build a new CVS, let alone a skyscraper.
So Chiofaro’s recent announcement that he will pull the plug on his twin-tower plan unless the city lets him put up a pair of 45-to-50 story skyrises has the ring of someone yelling "I quit” just minutes before they are fired.
The next day, City Hall lowered the boom. No spur of the moment backlash, the Boston Redevelopment Authority rolled out proposed new development guidelines that cap the heights of new towers built near the Greenway. These had been months in the making and were no big secret to Chiofaro or anyone else who follows development in Boston.
Needless to say, Chiofaro’s dreams of building another International Place near the waterfront is now on life support – and will officially die once the new Greenway building guidelines are adopted.
The only mystery here is now Chiofaro thought he was going to get his project built by taking on the mayor.
In Boston, that’s hardly a recipe for development success.
