Uneven Gateway Cities Housing Production May Indicate Bigger Problems Ahead
Early results suggest zoning reforms work only where the private real estate market works like Worcester, while indicating deeper challenges in Western Massachusetts.
Who Cares About Main Street? Not Massachusetts, Apparently
Massachusetts just lost its only statewide program to support downtowns and main streets. We need to think differently about how to support these vital places.
Level the Playing Field: Gateway Cities Need Permitting Reforms
Massachusetts’ 26 Gateway Cities are home to more than a quarter of our state’s population and represent some of our most promising opportunities for economic revitalization, yet they consistently struggle to compete with suburban and greenfield locations when it comes to attracting projects that could help transform their economies.
Report Says Gateway Cities Need to Double Housing Production to Meet Rising Demand
Gateway Cities could play a major role in addressing...
Personnel File – No. 385
From new VPs to fresh project managers, see who’s been hired, promoted and honored: It’s our weekly Personnel File roundup.
Report Spotlights Untapped Opportunity for Western Mass. Real Estate
Emerging industry clusters such as agriculture research and clean energy provide an opportunity to pull western Massachusetts out of the economic doldrums, according to a report that asks state leaders to commit $500 million toward the Pioneer Valley region.
House Backs Big HDIP Expansion
The House came around on the idea of expanding a tax credit program designed to encourage much-needed housing production, just not in the legislative vehicle that Gov. Maura Healey and the Senate originally envisioned.
Driscoll: Housing Projects Could Start Now If Credits Were Available
Supporters of a housing development tax incentive have plenty of ideas to improve how and where it’s applied, but as lawmakers from post-industrial cities prepare to try again to make the program permanent and triple its annual cap, a think tank consultant cautioned them to “speak with one voice.”
Thinking Big on the Blue Line
A recent wave of high-end housing developments in Revere has shifted the conversation to production of affordable and workforce housing, potentially including several large public parcels near transit.
Can Gateway Cities Weather a Downturn?
The adage across all commercial real estate during economic cooldowns is a financial flight to quality – high-end buildings in the urban core. That might not be the case this time around.
Three Ideas to Boost Gateway Cities’ Housing Production
Myopically focusing on restrictive suburban zoning distracts from an equally pressing problem – the lack of residential investment in Gateway Cities over the last 10 years thanks to inflexible zoning and uncertainty about availability of state incentives.
Will South Coast Rail Trigger Multifamily Boom?
Experts say South Coast Rail will operate so infrequently, and will be so expensive to ride, that few developers will have an incentive to build speculative housing developments near its far-flung stations.
Kriesberg to Leave MACDC for MassINC
Joe Kriesberg, the long-time leader of the Massachusetts Association of Community Development Corporations, plans to leave his role at the end of the year to become CEO of MassINC, a Boston-based think tank that plays a prominent role in state political life.
Gateway Cities Are Part of Solution to Mass. Segregation
Urban communities, particularly our Gateway Cities, need a complementary reinvestment strategy to attract middle-class families to their neighborhoods and bring more resources to high-poverty schools. Market-rate developers have a key role to play.
Financing Boost Sought For Entrepreneurs Of Color
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Massachusetts has provided “unprecedented support” and “unprecedented access to capital” to entrepreneurs of color, MassINC research director Benjamin Forman told lawmakers Tuesday.
Key Tool for First-Time Buyers Sidelined in Hot Market
FHA loans are exploding in popularity. But their users – often Black and Latinx first-time buyers – can lose in multiple-offer situations. What can be done?
Now Is the Time for Gateway Cities to Rise
Following a terrible year in which our smaller cities bore the brunt of COVID-19, they now face the unexpected chance to position themselves for prosperity, if they can connect more of their residents to long-term stability and opportunities to build wealth.
MBTA Board Must Stand Up to Baker
News of successful COVID-19 vaccines created a “light at the end of the tunnel” of pain the MBTA’s finances are currently in. But instead of helping us get there, Gov. Charlie Baker and MassDOT Secretary Stephanie Pollack are packing dynamite around the tunnel walls.
MBTA Cuts Will Ripple Through Real Estate
The MBTA’s proposed slimmed-down service menu for 2021 could cause indigestion for downtown Boston office landlords, discourage multifamily development near commuter rail stations and widen social inequities in accessing reliable transportation, real estate industry and economic development sources predict.
Report: Priced Out, Black and Latino Homebuyers Moving to Gateway Cities
A new study is raising alarm about trends among Black and Latino homebuyers that its authors say could worsen the state’s racial wealth gap.
