A crumbling seawall has caused structural damage to the Boston Harbor Cruises ticket booth on Long Wharf, which was constructed about two years ago by Modern Continental Enterprises without state permits.
Unlike the Boston Harbor Cruises boats that service thousands of commuters and tourists daily, the company’s tiny ticket office at the Hub’s Long Wharf was understandably not designed to float. But now, unless contractors can save the seawall from collapsing below it, the structure might nonetheless have to navigate the murky Boston Harbor brine.
Nearly two years after Modern Continental Enterprises built the ticket office for its Boston Harbor Cruises subsidiary without obtaining the proper permits, the seawall below has begun to collapse, so much so that two reinforced steel beams have been placed behind the building until repairs can be made. The Boston Redevelopment Authority, which controls Long Wharf, has retained a contractor who reportedly is slated to begin work this week on repairing the crumbling wall and sidewalk.
Although the BRA does seem to be mobilizing to repair the area before further damage occurs, the situation has reinvigorated longstanding complaints against Modern Continental and its alleged disdain for following the proper regulatory channels. The Cambridge-based general contractor, the lead contractor on the $15 billion Big Dig project, has been criticized for failing to secure permits for several of its own development projects up and down Boston Harbor, including the ticket office. One city official tracking the situation said the troubles encountered recently at Long Wharf have created a firestorm of controversy at the BRA, with officials there allegedly allowing the ticket office to be built minus a complete set of plans. That has led to finger-pointing in the agency as to who signed off on the project, the source insisted.
“Tongues are wagging here,” said the City Hall source, adding that the imbroglio has not done anything to enhance Modern Continental’s reputation as a contractor. “People are very concerned about the condition of the Big Dig … if this is the kind of work that they do,” the source maintained.
BRA officials pledged to look into the matter, but did not respond by Banker & Tradesman’s press deadline.
Modern Continental spokeswoman Lorraine Marino insisted there is no controversy over what happened, instead blaming the infrastructure of the wharf. “The seawall there did let go and that’s how the problem did occur,” she said. But the source further blamed Modern for parking vehicles on the property and adding asphalt when it began to crumble. The source also questioned why Modern Continental did not recognize the wall’s delicate state when performing its engineering tests prior to construction two years ago.
“You’d think whoever signed off on that is going to be in big trouble,” said the source.
A former BRA official familiar with the situation concurred, noting that the city has long been aware of Long Wharf’s troubling condition, and claiming Modern Continental should have been wary of it as well. “Where was the BRA when they started doing all this?” added the source. “And now it looks like they are all running for cover.”
In any event, it certainly has been a difficult stretch for Modern Continental and its charismatic founder, Lelio “Les” Marino, who has been hit with a number of fines during the past two years from the state’s environmental management office and other agencies for not obtaining permits, as well as for dumping sediment into Boston’s Fort Point Channel. Many observers have argued the previous punishments have amounted to little more than hand-slapping, particularly when the company added a half-floor to its 470 Atlantic Ave. renovation project in the Hub without first gaining approval. Modern was later fined just $10,000 by the Department of Environmental Protection for that infraction even as some officials called for the state to require that the work be demolished.
The 470 Atlantic Ave. building itself has proven to be quite a headache for Modern after it paid more than $50 million for the aging Fort Point Channel office building and undertook an extensive renovation program. By the time the project was complete, Boston’s white-hot economy had cooled considerably, and the building has since struggled to find tenants. Faced with a nearly empty building and few prospects of filling it in the near term, Modern sold the asset earlier this year for $82 million, well below what it had originally hoped to recoup.
Tackling the 14-story building renovation at what later became Independence Wharf was seen as a milestone in Modern’s evolution, with the firm initially concentrating on heavy construction before turning to development and renovation projects in the 1990s. While the firm had its share of successes, flipping several properties for substantial profit, the 470 Atlantic Ave. undertaking ultimately proved too difficult for the company to tackle.
As for now, it appears the Boston Harbor Cruises property should be repaired in time to avoid any serious structural damage to the building. Nonetheless, the City Hall source said the situation should prove to be a wakeup call for the city, something the former BRA official also claimed is overdue. “If it finally means that the city will start homing in on Modern Continental, I’m glad to hear it,” said the source. “It has been a long time in coming.”
