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Boston Mayor Marty Walsh surveys the city’s skyline from the under-construction One Dalton tower during its topping-off ceremony in 2019. His pro-housing agenda delivered benefits to the city but critics say Walsh missed opportunities to make development more equitable and address the transportation and climate change crises. Photo by John Wilcox | Boston Mayor’s Office
As Boston Mayor Marty Walsh prepares to depart for his new job as U.S. labor secretary, he leaves behind a city in which many neighborhoods are unrecognizable compared to when he took office in 2014.
Under Walsh, the Boston Planning & Development Agency approved over 86 million square feet of real estate development including the largest private project in modern times: the 10 million-square-foot Suffolk Downs. The Seaport District emerged as a rival destination to Cambridge for the ever-growing life science industry, and large-scale office construction established new growth shoots from North Station to South End.
But the outgoing mayor’s legacy may be tied most strongly to housing production, where Boston has delivered a disproportionate share of the region’s new construction amid escalating home prices. Developers responded in force to Walsh’s lofty goal of building 69,000 housing units by 2030, with over 45,000 units approved during his term.
“Mayor Walsh did a terrific job of outlining an ambitious housing strategy,” said Joseph Kriesberg, CEO of the Massachusetts Association of Community Development Corporations. “He tried to balance the need for more market-rate housing and subsidized housing, and made a lot of progress in seven years despite significant challenges.”
The housing boom took place even as Walsh increased minimum affordable housing requirements for new multifamily projects with 10 or more units. Walsh also supported Boston’s adoption of the Community Preservation Act in 2016, a property tax surcharge which has delivered $92 million in funding for affordable housing, open space and historic preservation projects to date. And last month, Walsh proposed a 43 percent increase in linkage fees charged to large commercial developments, most of which is earmarked for affordable housing.
“When you look at those policies, they represent a significant increase in locally generated resources for affordable housing from when he took office,” Kriesberg said. “He deserves a lot of credit for that.”
Tamara Small, CEO of the commercial developers’ trade group NAIOP-Massachusetts, said the administration’s lasting influence on development has been greater transparency and a realistic approach to extracting concessions from developers.
“The theme of the Walsh administration was to focus on inclusion and production of affordable housing, but also maintaining a balance,” Small said. “He was supportive but worked to strike a balance in requesting a lot of developers, knowing that at some point, it can be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.”
Mixed Reviews of the ‘New’ BRA
Structural reform of the Boston Redevelopment Authority took a backseat early in Walsh’s term to the debate over Boston’s selection as the U.S. contender to host the 2024 Olympics. Walsh threw his support behind the organizing committee’s plans for an Olympic stadium replacing the Widett Circle warehouse district but dropped the city’s bid amid rising public opposition.
Developers had reason to welcome the election of Walsh, given his background as a building trades union leader. His predecessor, the late Mayor Thomas Menino, took a hands-on interest in project reviews, and feuded with developers of several high-profile projects. Walsh quickly indicated his support for one controversial project opposed by Menino, the Chiofaro Co.’s proposed skyscraper at Central Wharf, despite objections from neighboring condo owners, the New England Aquarium and Conservation Law Foundation.
The Boston-based environmental group is suing to block waterfront rezoning that would allow Chiofaro’s 600-foot-tall tower on East India Row, and went to court in 2017 to challenge the St. Regis Residences luxury condo tower on Seaport Boulevard. CLF argued that project didn’t include ground–floor public space, as required of waterfront projects, and developer Cronin Group agreed to pay $18.5 million toward a waterfront park and enrichment programs.
Boston Mayor Marty Walsh leaves office with plans to protect many city neighborhoods vulnerable to flooding, like the Seaport District, as yet unfulfilled.
“The BPDA needs to be reformed root and branch, and allow greater public participation and an end to the practice of spot zoning at the behest of developers and the expense of public access and public safety,” CLF President Bradley Campbell said. “Widett Circle is another example of that: an important opportunity both to address climate resilience and to create a neighborhood vision. Instead, what gets attention is the proposal for an Amazon warehouse.”
Walsh stopped short of breaking up the powerful BRA, with its history of urban renewal that leveled the old West End neighborhood, and its wide-ranging powers over planning, permitting and redevelopment. But an outside audit prompted a series of reforms, including updating the agency’s recordkeeping, rent collections from tenants and improved online access to development filings.
Despite Walsh’s arm’s length approach, developers haven’t always gotten what they wanted.
In Back Bay, Boston-based Samuels & Assoc. redesigned its 1001 Boylston St. office and hotel project in response to community feedback.
“We were thrilled with the way that it changed, and the BPDA was certainly part of that process,” said Elliott Laffer, chair of the Neighborhood Association of Back Bay. “They put a park in between the buildings and preserved the views, and they were responsive to the transportation impacts and how to set things back from the sidewalk.”
Responding to critiques of poor long-range planning, the BPDA launched a series of targeted studies in areas expected to become development hotspots, from the Washington Street corridor of Jamaica Plain and Roxbury to South Boston’s Dorchester Avenue and Allston’s Western Avenue.
Transportation and Climate Crises Loom
Critics fault Walsh for missed opportunities to leverage the massive investment – estimated at $43 billion in projects approved by BPDA during his administration – to more aggressively confront issues such as inequality, coastal flooding and a strained transportation system.
“Did we harness the potential of one of the strongest economies we’ve had in decades? I think no,” said Stacy Thompson, executive director of the Liveable Streets Alliance. “It’s OK to say that and acknowledge we made some missteps.”
Boston real estate’s vulnerability to rising sea levels came to the forefront during the Walsh years, prompting the administration to add resiliency strategies to the checklists in development reviews.
Coastal storms flooded parts of Dorchester, the Seaport District and downtown waterfront as the city’s consultants drew up plans for waterfront defenses. The estimated $4 billion price tag includes new seawalls, berms and absorbent living shorelines, but details of how the costs will be split between private property owners and public sources remain to be decided.
Steve Adams
“There isn’t really a proposal to equitably allocate the infrastructure changes that are needed to the properties that primarily benefit,” CLF’s Campbell said. “That’s work that’s been left totally undone and waiting for the next mayor.”
Walsh’s decision to earmark 10 percent of the city’s capital improvement budget toward climate change strategies was a good start, said Kathy Abbott, CEO of Boston Harbor Now. Prospects for increased federal funding are brightening in the Biden administration, and will be necessary to complete the scope of work recommended by engineers, she said.
“We’ve made some progress, but we need district-wide solutions,” Abbott said. “You can’t do it parcel by parcel, and it’s a question about how we fund this. It can’t all be on the private sector.”
