Well, it's finally here. The rendering of Boston's possible 1000' tower by Renzo Piano.
Monday, November 13, 2006
One bidder for 1000-foot tower site in Boston
Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino's invitation to developers to build an iconic, 1,000-foot-tall tower on the site of a decaying city-owned parking garage drew only a single bidder today.
Steven Belkin, chairman and founder of Trans National group and an owner of the Atlanta Hawks basketball and Atlanta Thrashers hockey teams, proposed a tower -- which after approvals may turn out to be Boston's tallest building -- with extensive retail space on the ground floor.
The Boston Redevelopment Authority issued a request for proposals for the Winthrop Square public parking garage site, at 115 Federal St., in May; bids were due on today. Belkin, a hugely successful businessman but not as of yet a real estate developer, was considered by many to be the one to beat because he owns a key adjacent property, 133 Federal St.
The odd-shaped parking garage, with a footprint of a little over an acre, is considered much more valuable if a building there could also include the space occupied by Belkin's building.
Belkin has hired Meredith & Grew/Oncor as development manager for his project, and he has been working with architects including the highly regarded Renzo Piano of Italy, who designed the commercial and cultural Centre Pompidou in Paris.
"Very clearly he's been working on this for quite a bit of time,'' said David I. Begelfer, chief executive of the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties' Massachusetts chapter. "He has the land, he has the money, and without question he has the determination to build this."
Belkin pioneered the successful use of "affinity" credit cards, those tied to businesses or nonprofit institutions, and has started more than two dozen companies. He is extensively involved in charitable work in Massachusetts, including efforts on behalf of Harvard University, Combined Jewish Philanthropies, and the Museum of Fine Arts Boston.
Belkin also owns Belkin Family Lookout Farm, in Natick, Mass. He graduated with a degree in engineering from Cornell University in 1969 and received a masters in business from the Harvard Business School in 1971.
Menino surprised the development community in February by giving a speech in which he invited developers to think big, after many year during which tall towers were shunned in Boston. The 60-floor Hancock Tower in the Back Bay is the city's tallest office building.
(By Thomas C. Palmer Jr., Globe staff)
Posted by Boston Globe Business Team at 01:46 PM> |
