To The Editor:
I guess Boston Mayor Thomas Menino prefers that his coronation precede his victory. As an appointed mayor, Menino was never really elected. It takes the Vatican to get a mayor out of Boston’s city hall. The mayor’s self coronation, spread all over the front pages of the city’s newspapers on a recent Sunday and fed to you on a silver palate in his silly driving around Boston video is an embarrassment.
I have been involved in commercial real estate in Boston for 28 years. I have no need to hide or to blend into the faux business scenery when everyone around me knows it stinks but has no choice but to go along. Fortunately, I have not been a developer and have thus not had to please the whims of an individual rather than of a citizenry. If the mayor has invited us to come and praise his Caesar, let’s start with doing away with the statistical nonsense his office issues.
The mayor boasts that there has been more square footage of commercial development per square mile than any of the top ten most populous cities in the country. The problem is that Boston, at a whopping 48.4 square miles, is less than a quarter the size of the 10th most populous city—San Jose. In fact, Boston does not make the top 150 in area. Boston could comfortably fit inside of the 469 square miles of Los Angeles nearly 10 times over. The truth is that, of the top 10 most populous cities in the US, only Philadelphia has added less new construction since 1996. Strike one on the facts.
During Mayor Menino’s tenure, 15.3 million square feet of office space has been built in Boston. Not bad for a 16-year reign which has no sight in end. But during Ray Flynn’s nine-year tenure, 36 million was added. Yes, Mayor Flynn in seven years more than doubled the amount seen in the Menino era. Considering that the inventory during Mayor Flynn’s tenure lacked the 15 million added during Menino’s days, the percentage growth on a yearly basis under Mayor Flynn averaged roughly 8 percent per year. Menino has averaged 1.3 percent.
Need we even mention Mayor Kevin White who, during 16 years, saw the construction of 24.3 million square feet? Again, looking at Boston before Mayor White, the percentage growth of the city was exponentially larger than our current Mayor’s at nearly 9 percent per year. And this was in an era where the Mayor sought out developers and companies to come to Boston, not when developers sporting clever crowns lined up for the “privilege” to build in Boston. Strike two on the legacy count.
And what specifically has the Mayor, other than crowns, added to the skyline? In the entire 16-year tenure of Mayor Menino, a whopping six new buildings over 500,000 square feet have been built. I believe I am being quite generous in setting 500,000 square feet as the cutoff for consideration as a “tower.” The national standard would be at least one million, of which there has been a grand total of one, the new headquarters of State Street Global at One Lincoln Street.
Six new “towers.” And of the six, three of them fell under the approval process of Massport — Fidelity’s two office buildings on the Seaport and Manulife’s new headquarters on Congress Street in the Seaport. The state, with Massport as its agent, does not require approval from the city. The Mayor doesn’t talk about those buildings in case you ever noticed. Strike three on skyline impact.
Mayors do not build. They allow others to build. Buildings do not create jobs. The companies that choose to occupy them do. Mayor Menino has followed the over worn path of his predecessors not only in Boston but in almost every major city. They need the tower and they need the power. The problem is that our Mayor Menino has struck out in doing so, no matter which way you count it, obscure it, or spout on about it while riding around town.
James J. Adams
J. Adams Commercial Real Estate
Boston
