Late last year, former Los Angeles Lakers star/evil adversary to the Boston Celtics Earvin “Magic” Johnson announced his L.A.-based Canyon-Johnson Urban Funds would become a partner in NorthPoint, a planned five million-square-foot, mixed-use project on 44 acres of undeveloped land in Cambridge. His teammates include Boston-based HYM Investment Group, which has offices just down the street from the TD Garden, spiritual successor to the famed Boston Garden where Johnson spent many a night locked in epic battles with Larry Bird on the famed parquet.

Despite what die-hard Celtics fans may think of such a partnership, it helped build momentum for a project that has experienced problems with other investors. HYM Investment Group’s offices are located in the Government Center Garage, another redevelopment project HYM Founding Partner Thomas O’Brien is attempting to resurrect after former owners failed to get a project off the ground. O’Brien, a former director of the Boston Redevelopment Authority, sat down with Banker & Tradesman recently to discuss his projects and the future of development in the area.

Thomas O’Brien

Title: Founding Partner and Managing Director, HYM Investment Group
Age: 48
Experience: 24 years

What have been the more challenging parts of essentially creating what equates to almost a small city just across the Charles River from the TD Garden?

There was a lot about NorthPoint that needed to be fixed, frankly. The original plans didn’t have a cohesive retail concept, so we made some adjustments to make an interesting retail center there. We also looked systematically at the environmental issues associated with the site and were pleasantly surprised that those issues were really very minimal. We did a full top-to-bottom examination of the site that had previously never been done. We found no groundwater issues, no issues that required any immediate DEP action, so we felt really good about where we are on that.

Where are you now with the project?

Well, there are about 1,800 residential units already built. It’s permitted for 3 million square feet of residential and two million square feet of commercial. That will allow for about 3,000 units of housing over time. We’re already in the mix for that, and another residential component could start in 2012. We’re in the midst of thinking that through right now. We’ve also started to pitch commercial build-to-suits, and we’re in the mix with four different potential commercial build-to-suit tenants. They’re classic Cambridge life science and technology companies. We offer something totally different – the opportunity to have a true campus. It’s a place they can grow over time in a campus setting. We feel very good in our competitive ability to win at least one or two of those. The biggest challenge is getting our arms around the entire 44-acre site and then prioritizing all the work. We’ve been successful in getting a lot of that done this year. The retail needs to be unique and neighborhood-oriented, [with] really interesting food offerings. If you travel up Cambridge Street to Inman Square, there are some terrific restaurants there, and they’re great operators who might be interested in additional locations at NorthPoint. The community and abutters have started to talk about a public market, so the idea of fresh fruit and vegetables and bread being offered is certainly something we’re thinking about. There’s some interest in a grocery store as well. It would probably be a high-end grocery store, and we think there’s room for that. But most of the retail will be boutique in scale and feel.

Where do you envision Boston’s future growth coming from?

The best part about what’s happening in Boston right now is that the growth isn’t limited to a particular neighborhood. The Back Bay will always be a wonderful place people want to live and shop and go to work. But we have the Seaport emerging as another place people want to work and live. We’re working on the redevelopment of the Government Center Garage, and I think that will eventually help turn that area of the city into a similar kind of place. People will be able to migrate to a variety of neighborhoods that are being created that they find really interesting and with great retail possibilities, especially with what’s happening in the Bulfinch Triangle. That’s something unique about Boston.

Tom O’Brien’s Top Five Rules For Coaching Youth Sports:

• Treat each member of the team with respect.
• Show the referee or umpire respect at all times.
• Respect your coach and that of the opposing team.
• Always strive to do your best.
• No matter what, have fun.