§ Don Chiofaro tells the Boston Globe he will abandon his proposal for a pair of towers to replace an existing parking garage on the Boston Waterfront, overlooking the Rose Kennedy Greenway, if the city / state do not approve the heights he is looking for.

“From the very beginning, we bought the garage with the idea of turning it into an important building for the city,’’ Chiofaro said. “If the guidelines will not permit an economically feasible project, we will have to forgo the notion of city building and look at all of our alternatives.’’

I’m not sure how Mr Chiofaro thinks this tactic will improve his chances to build – just about nobody wants towers of the height he is suggesting, certainly not the neighbors next door in the Harbor Towers and (I think) neither does the New England Aquarium. Plus, the height limits aren’t set by the city but by the FAA (although it’s been questioned why they recently reduced acceptable heights in downtown Boston).

§ CB/Richard Ellis New England predicts the Greater Boston market will see “healthy” sublease activity during the coming year, according to Banker & Tradesman.

“Though Boston traditionally lags the nation as a whole in its recovery, a limited sublease market and construction pipeline position the city for a stronger recovery relative to many of its national counterparts,” according to CB Richard Ellis/New England’s special report on the Boston sublease market.

Sub-lease rents are expected to fall further, this year, but eventually even out.

§ The South End News take one final look at the Columbus Center project. Neighbors interviewed would prefer nothing be built there, ever, or that the design and density looked at with a fresh set of eyes.

“Frankly, I’m glad that whatever it is, it’s not just another high rise. … It’s exhilarating when you travel down Clarendon and you see a city, but I like the squirrels and the birds and the trees,” she said.

Yeah, you can travel down Clarendon and be surrounded by birds and trees but that damn John Hancock keeps getting in the way …

§ A brand-new soccer stadium is scheduled to open this weekend in New Jersey, just ten miles from lower Manhattan, according to the Wall Street Journal. It will be known as Red Bull Arena, named after its developer, a foreign energy-drink manufacturer.

Red Bull arena is a 25,000-seat stadium meant to become the country’s premier destination for games played in the U.S. Paid for with the help of $80 million of public investment in land infrastructure improvements, it cost about double the price of the other soccer-specific stadiums in the U.S. Red Bull spent more than $100 million to acquire the team and the stadium-naming rights from AEG Entertainment in 2006.

Developers spent tens of millions of dollars to clean the soil at the site, which used to be home to a steel mill and several other industrial factories.

This is sure to spark renewed talk of building a similarly-sized stadium in Somerville, just north of Boston. As recently as two years ago, city officials were discussing plans, according to the Somerville News:

City officials presented a plan Wednesday to put a major sports facility, possibly a professional soccer stadium, in the long underutilized Inner Belt and Brickbottom commercial district.

City officials helped present the study last week, conducted by CBT, after the Kraft Group, who owns the Revolution and the Patriots, expressed interest in building a soccer stadium in Somerville.

Supporters of a soccer stadium point to the high number of European and South American immigrants in the Greater Boston area as a natural source of sports attendees.

Related posts:

1. Boston real estate roundup for Monday, March 22, 2010
2. Boston real estate roundup, March 19, 2010
3. Boston real estate roundup for Tuesday, March 23, 2010

One building will be a 16-story select service hotel with a restaurant on its first floor and the other a 9-story extended-stay hotel plus a 3-level, above grade parking garage with approximately 137 parking spaces, proposed to serve both hotels uses. The hotels together will have approximately 408 rooms.

While the split between the two types has not been finally determined, current plans anticipate approximately 210 rooms in the select service hotel and approximately 198 rooms in the extended stay hotel. The select service hotel will include an approximately 4,000 square-foot (approximately 267-seat) restaurant in its first floor.

On Monday, February 8 & 22, 2010, at 6:30pm the Boston Redevelopment Authority will conduct a community meeting, at the Project Place, 1145 Washington Street, to discuss the 275 Albany Street proposal.

Below, some images and photos of the location, along with a rendering of the hotels, courtesy of the Boston Courant. (No images appear on the architect’s or developers’ websites, unfortunately.)

Click on the images to enlarge.

Related posts:

1. Two hotels proposed for South End / Chinatown border of Boston
2. Big plans proposed for Berkeley Street in the South End
3. A (partial) list of all Boston development projects proposed, approved, canceled or left for dead

According to the Boston Business Journal:

The lot lies off Albany Street behind the Boston Herald …

The backers are Blue Hawk Investments LLC and Normandy Real Estate Partners.

There would be a total of 408 rooms between the two buildings, one 16-stories, the other, nine.

Photo courtesy Nordic Properties.

Related posts:

1. Two new hotels proposed for 275 Albany Street in the South End
2. New apartment complex proposed for 319 A Street in Fort Point Channel
3. Filene’s boss says, “Sry”, while Berkeley Investments says “No you din’t”

The Abbey Group is expected to file plans with the Boston Redevelopment Authority by year’s end to build a 300,000-square-foot addition to Landmark Center, the 1.5 million-square-foot office and retail development at the intersection of Brookline Avenue and Boylston Street.

The Landmark Center, located next to the Longwood Medical Area, was a Sears distribution center, back in the ’80′s and ’90′s. Subsequently, a developer proposed turning the building into a nursing home / assisted living facility. His plans were discouraged by neighbors (I don’t know why, it seemed the perfect place to put elderly in need of medical care) so he withdrew his proposal and sold the property to the Abbey Group, who built out the lower floors into retail space while adding office space on the upper floors.

The new proposal seems to be attracting more support from neighbors, perhaps because of changes the are has undergone during the past decade. There is much-more development on nearby Boylston Street. There is now a “buffer” between the old streets of residential housing and the Landmark Center.

Photo courtesy of the Harvard School of Public Health

Related posts:

1. Berklee / Christian Science Center plan shows new development
2. South End mixed-use project defaults on loans
3. Christian Science Center Plaza plans revamped; preservation desired

From the ULI website:

Survey respondents predict that commercial real estate vacancies will continue to increase and rents will decrease across all property sectors before the market hits bottom in 2010 and projects value declines of 40 percent to 50 percent off 2007 market peaks.

Locally, things are looking much better.

Boston is a solid market as compelling economic drivers—premier educational institutions, life science companies, and high tech business—reinforce investors’ long-term conviction. Downtown apartment vacancies remain well under 10 percent and condo/house pricing “remains stiff.”

According to Banker & Tradesman, the local commercial real estate market will offer some opportunities, as well:

“2010 and 2011 will be the opportunity of a lifetime – if you have cash,” said Jonathan Miller, the report’s author, addressing a ULI Boston forum Tuesday evening …

Miller said investors believe Boston, New York, San Francisco and Washington, D.C., will emerge from the commercial downturn the strongest. All are battling problematic market fundamentals, he said, but a combination of supply constraints, institutional brainpower, and a vibrant urban residential component will make Boston in particular attractive to investors fleeing the carnage in Phoenix, Las Vegas and Florida.

Related posts:

1. Boston real estate market 2010
2. Dorchester real estate market sees signs of resurgence
3. The Boston real estate market in 2010

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 …

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.

Related posts:

1. Pot. Kettle. Black. Menino. Chiofaro.
2. Liberty Mutual plans throws wrench into community planning initiative
3. Hooray! Landmark Center gets upgrade bid by developer