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The Connector, the lobby and centerpiece public amenity on the ground floor of developer MP Boston's Winthrop Center skyscraper. Photo courtesy of MP Boston and Steelblue
MP Boston, developer of the Winthrop Center tower, is in hot water with Boston planning officials after being on the receiving end of criticism for months about public access to the tower’s signature public amenity.
In its original proposal to redevelop the 115 Federal St. municipal garage property as an office-residential tower, MP Boston pitched a ground-level “Great Hall” as an alternative to a Prudential Center-type observatory sought in the BPDA’s request for proposals.
But even after gaining several food vendors in January The Connector, as the space is known, has remained closed on weekends, which violates a management and operations agreement that requires it to be open at least 16 hours a day, the head of the BPDA wrote in a letter to MP Boston this week.
“We expect you to take appropriate action to ensure the Connector can remain open to the public 7 days a week,” BPDA Director Arthur Jemison wrote.
What else is on tap today?
- Suffolk Downs Rents: The first building at the 16 million-square-foot Suffolk Downs redevelopment is nearing completion and has begun marketing 475 apartments for occupancy in June.
- Remodeling Forecast: The latest forecast from Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing predicts that a slump in Americans’ remodeling spending may be in store this year.
- St. Regis Lawsuit Settled: One of Boston’s prominent luxury brokerages and the developer behind a new Seaport District condominium tower have buried the hatchet in a dispute over allegedly unpaid sales commissions.
- Toll Gantries at the Border? Using frank language rarely heard on Beacon Hill, Transportation Secretary Monica Tibbits-Nutt weighed in on a series of major policy issues in a recent appearance before activists, from raising more money for transportation, to a major unresolved design question for the MBTA’s in-planning West Station.
What can I look forward to?
Here are just a few of the things to look forward to in Sunday’s newsletter. Not a B&T subscriber? Change that here.
- Wall Street debt funds have assembled big war chests as they look for distressed assets in downtown Boston.
- The sales slump among Boston’s high-end condos continued this past quarter.
- The narratives around the MBTA Communities law are misleading, two observers argue – it’s much more successful than many acknowledge, and it still needs more work to secure those wins.
