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With the future of the downtown office market uncertain, both candidates said they support the life science industry’s continued growth within Boston’s borders.
Boston mayoral candidates Michelle Wu and Annissa Essaibi George have some common critiques about how the city regulates real estate development, but their approaches reflect the difference between a gut renovation and a teardown.
Wu’s wish list of reforms could bring changes to the doorsteps of landlords and the renters who comprise nearly two-thirds of Boston’s population. Her calls for rent stabilization, abolition of the Boston Planning & Development Agency and a new stormwater fee to pay for coastal resiliency are a departure from business-as-usual at city hall.
George endorses the pro-growth philosophy of former Mayor Marty Walsh, whose administration approved 86 million square feet of development including 45,000 housing units, increasing the supply of both market-rate and income-restricted apartments and condos.
In discussions with Banker & Tradesman’s editorial board last month, the candidates shared their approaches to real estate policies and the opportunities and obstacles that lie ahead if they’re elected.
The candidate who emerges victorious Tuesday will find bold reforms easier to promise than translate into action, said David Begelfer, principal of CRE Strategic Advisors and former CEO of commercial developers’ group NAIOP Massachusetts.
“It’s a big leap, from passing legislation to implementing it and running a city,” Begelfer said. “These are big-picture items that are out there, but it’s also risky when you try to affect a very complex system quickly.”
Wu favors a wholesale departure from the city’s permitting framework dating back to the Urban Renewal era of the 1960s in favor of rezoning for more as-of-right development. Essaibi George largely supports keeping the current system in place, while streamlining parts of the process to support goals such as generation of more family-sized home ownership units and encouraging accessory dwellings.
Read the editorial board’s interview with Michelle Wu
Read the editorial board’s interview with Annissa Essaibi George
Hot-Button Parcels
The next mayor will have a major say about several high-profile development sites and what gets built on them. The 19-acre Widett Circle parcel reportedly has been eyed for a massive Amazon distribution center by the new property owners, and sits next to the city’s Frontage Road tow lot and an MBTA rail yard that could be combined to create a new mega-development cluster.
Essaibi George said a single-use industrial development such as e-commerce distribution wouldn’t be an appropriate “Welcome to Boston” moment at the property bordering Interstate 93. She mentioned housing and “thoughtful commercial use” as part of a development that adds vibrancy.
“I’m not excited about a warehouse being featured in a gateway and entrance to our city,” she said.
The proximity to the tow lot and MBTA property points to the need for a master planning study of the entire area before approving any projects, Wu said, avoiding a repeat of the Seaport District’s development without a school, library or fire station.
“It is just so rare that in a city as dense and historic as Boston that we have such a large swath of land that includes significant public ownership, making up two-thirds of that area. We should have a master plan that looks at how all of that can fit together,” Wu said.
Affordability Strategies
After briefly dipping during the early days of COVID-19, apartment rents began to rise in mid-2021 and add housing cost burdens in Boston, which consistently ranks as one of the priciest U.S. markets. Wu calls for rent stabilization modeled upon a policy enacted two years ago in Oregon, which she contrasts to Boston’s previous rent control system which ended in 1995. The policy – which requires legislative approval – would cap annual rent increases at 7 percent plus the rate of inflation.
Wu says the policy is unlikely to depress new housing production, a frequent critique cited by opponents based upon the city’s previous rent-control era. She cited an uptick in multifamily building permits in Portland, Oregon since passage of the 2019 statewide rent stabilization law.
City Councilor Michell Wu, left, and City Councilor Annissa Essaibi George, right. Photos courtesy of Michelle Wu and Annissa Essaibi George
Essaibi George favors affordability through higher requirements in new multifamily developments, such as increasing the minimum percentage of income-restricted units from 13 to 20 percent, and encouraging more condos among the affordable units.
A former teacher at East Boston High School, Essaibi George sees an opportunity for real estate development to narrow racial inequities, proposing a job training program at Madison Park Vocational Technical High School to prepare students for jobs in construction and life sciences.
“It’s really hard to drive down the cost of living here in Boston. What we need to do is help people access those economic opportunities to build their own wealth,” she said.
That ties into her emphasis on real estate ownership as a source of family wealth and neighborhood stability, including increased city funding for first-time homebuyer assistance.
Reforming the BPDA
Both candidates say they want to reform the city’s development process and remove obstacles that block or delay projects, particularly those that include affordable housing.
George wants to tweak the existing system, streamlining elements of the review process. Citing her familiarity as a former president of the Columbia/Savin Hill Civic Association, she suggested community meetings could run simultaneously with the BPDA review.
“There’s got to be a start date, but there has to be an end date in sight and to eliminate some of the excessive politics that happens in communities,” she said.
As a councilor, Wu has been one of the most outspoken BPDA critics, faulting it for lack of transparency and insensitivity to neighborhood input in reviewing projects. She has long advocated abolishing the agency and separating its planning and permitting functions, something that would require approval by the state legislature.
In the meantime, there are opportunities for short-term reform, Wu said. First would be creation of a cabinet-level chief of planning to look at growth on a citywide level.
“There’s no predictability, there’s no clarity and there’s no consistency in terms of how our neighborhoods and blocks are growing,” Wu said. “And that means we are losing out on resources that should be driving affordability, transportation access and climate resiliency,” she said.
Wu’s platform calls for the most dramatic changes for developers and landlords, including a citywide rezoning for the first time since the 1960s and a new separate planning division. The result, Wu said, should be more projects approved by-right and faster groundbreakings.
“The vision is we would have a zoning code that much better reflects the needs and standards of the community for where it makes sense to have density and affordability: not just height and floor area ratio, but how our schools and facilities and transportation system should match the growth we’re building up in the city,” Wu said.
The Future of Downtown
Life science projects have kept Boston’s commercial development pipeline flowing during COVID, including major projects in Allston and the Seaport District and office-to-lab conversions in the Financial District and South End. While neighborhood groups have raised objections to some lab projects near residential areas, both candidates support the industry’s expansion.
Essaibi George said she supports more life science development that benefits Boston residents.
“It’s about our city’s residents seeing themselves in these buildings, showing up to work every day. That’s critical for me,” she said.
Wu sees a threat to Boston’s vibrancy from COVID’s impact on office space, and service businesses that rely on downtown office workers.
“We’re seeing a glut of vacancy in the downtown commercial buildings and foot traffic is way, way down. This will continue and so every city is in a global competition for capital, for talent, for residents and businesses,” she said. “We have to give people a reason to be in Boston where they can’t miss out on being in our city in person.”
Putting childcare centers in vacant office space would give working parents an incentive to return to offices, she said.
Who Pays for Resiliency?
Boston faces a multi-billion-dollar bill for projects such as elevated seawalls and absorbent shorelines to protect neighborhoods from coastal flooding in future decades, according to recent studies.
Steve Adams
Wu’s “Green New Deal” climate platform includes a new stormwater fee calculated based upon the square-footage of impervious surface on a property, to help pay for projects to reduce flooding. She favors offering loans to homeowners to pay for upfront resiliency projects, similar to the state-run PACE Massachusetts program.
“We are past the moment where we can do just one thing at a time. The window of action when it comes to climate preparedness is closing.”
Essaibi George said the public-private cost share formula depends upon how much federal infrastructure money Massachusetts receives, but should be a regional approach spanning the entire coastline.
