How very confusing.
Developer Don Chiofaro, showing nothing if not bravado, bought the Boston Harbor Garage a couple years ago and promptly announced plans for a two-building, 1.5 million-square-foot office, retail, hotel and condominium complex structure up to 770-feet in height.
After everyone regained their breath, he then (as developers always do) said he was open to negotiations on the height and density. Which was good because the chances of building such a tower (which would become the third-highest in the city, I believe) overlooking the just-finished Rose Kennedy Greenway were slim to none (actually, none).
Beyond the aesthetics of building such a tower to the side of what will (one day) be a beautiful lawn, the developer needs to satisfy the Federal Aviation Administration and the Massachusetts Port Authority since, as most Bostonians know, the flight paths of jets leaving Logan International Airport head right over the city.
MassPort issued guidelines that said a height of up to 625 feet might be acceptable.
Now, however, according to the Boston Business Journal, the FAA has decreed that the height will have to be lower. Much lower.
The Federal Aviation Administration has told Boston developer Don Chiofaro that it will not greenlight any building higher than 407 feet …
The FAA’s initial notice comes as a surprise, as they and Massport has gone to great lengths to promote a map of air corridors they consider critical to Logan airport. That map says the height limit for a building at Chiofaro’s Harbor Garage site would be 625 feet.
In August, Massport planner Flavio Leo told Banker & Tradesman that his agency published the map so developers could tailor their development proposals to its contours before taking plans to the FAA.
Oddly, the lower limit is almost exactly the height of the two Harbor Tower condominium buildings, next door. Residents of that condo association have been adamantly opposed to Mr Chiofaro’s plans, citing light and density issues.
The planning process in Boston is long and painful, even as an observer. The developer, who, according to published reports, has a contentious (at best) relationship with current Boston mayor Thomas M Menino certainly won’t have an easy time of it regardless of who wins Tuesday’s election.
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