Archive for the 'Housing and Urban Development' category

The infamous Filene's site (Photo credit: Boston.com).

A tower with retail stores, office space, and hundreds of residences is slated to grace the former Filene’s site. Millennium Partners, developers of the nearby Ritz Carlton Hotel and Towers, will team up with existing owner Vornado Realty Trust of New York, with Millennium taking a more active role. Vornado has left the site idle since summer of 2008 due to a lack of financing and subsequently revoked construction permits.

According to Philip Aarons, a founding partner at Millennium, the original Filene’s building will be renovated with construction of a 500 to 600-foot tower next door. This project will cost roughly $500 million, as opposed to the originally planned $750 million project, which included a hotel.

Construction could potentially start this time next year.

For more on this story, see the Boston Globe and the Boston Business Journal.

As I am sure many of you have read, Boston is undergoing several transformations throughout several of its neighborhoods. Some are undergoing new additions, while others are getting renovated.

Here is an inside look with David Manfredi, principal of Elkus Manfredi Architects, whose firm happens to be one of which that is highly involved with several current/upcoming projects.

"Given all the development in places like Dudley Square, the Fenway, and the South Boston Waterfront, how do you expect the design and atmosphere of the city to change in coming years?

We’re very fortunate, planners and architects especially, to be in Boston. There is activity here, and there are large parts of the country where there’s not nearly as much activity. What’s exciting is that we have this incredible waterfront that sits right next to our downtown, and there is a lot of development there now. It’s not like we’re building at the edges; we’re building so close to the heart of everything." ...Read more HERE (photo credit boston.com) 

Boston Realty Advisors (BRA) was featured in the July 15th, 2011 issue of The Real Reporter because they are currently handling two exciting listings in Back Bay that will prove to be great rehabilitation projects. 

493-497 Commonwealth Avenue

Formerly the JS Waterman Funeral Home, BRA's listing at 493-497 Commonwealth Avenue has been out of use for several years, and is finally going to be brought back to life.  It is a 19,500 building currently in "shell condition."  This makes the building a blank canvas.  It may possibly become a residential space, but the central location could make for great offices or other forms of commercial space.  The building is right on the edge of Kenmore square, which is a great area and will soon benefit from major improvements to Boston's Green Line.  Boston Realty Advisors has not announced any definite details of a deal, but whatever happens, Kenmore square will soon have a new great space.

463 Beacon Street

Just a few blocks away, this beautiful building is currently a 20-room lodging house offering nightly and weekly rates.  This property may stay as is, but according to BRA founder Jason Weissman, it is possible that the space may work as a single household.  He also told The Real Reporter that converting the space to condominiums could be a viable and possibly more valuable solution.  The building has 2,400 square feet of frontage on Beacon street, easy access to Massachusetts Avenue and a slew of prestigious Universities, and six parking spaces in the rear.

Interested in these listings or looking for more information on buying or renting real estate in the Boston area?  Contact Boston Realty Advisors today!

Earlier this year, renowned economist Karl E. Case wrote a summation of the housing crisis and the 'Great Recession' in the form of a poem called, 'Reflections on the Housing Market'.

Dr. Case is the Professor of Economics at Wellesley College, a Founding Partner of the real estate research firm Fiserv Case Shiller Weiss, Inc., and he also co-developed the Case-Shiller Home Price Index, which is the most widely referenced source of housing market prices in the U.S. today.  

Dr. Case was one of the economists that predicted the current collapse of the U.S. housing bubble.  In his poem below, he writes about the early indicators of the troubles to come, the crisis as it unfolded, the effects the collapse is still having today.

He closes the poem by acknowledging that markets will correct themselves in time, no matter what, and calls for politicians to work towards a solution to the problems created by the housing bubble collapse.       

Do you agree with Dr. Case's summation?  What do you think politicians can do to 'help find solutions'?  Share your thoughts in the comment section below.  

Reflections on the Housing Market
By Karl E. Case

"For the last few years, we have shed many tears
Living through a recession.
The economy's broke and it's not a joke,
When we talk of another depression.
Fifteen million without a job,
Foreclosures and banks that fail,
401K's became 201K's,
And everything's up for sale.

How can it be? What didn't we see
That led to all of this trouble?
There is little doubt that the proximal cause
Was a bursting housing bubble.
But other than that, who can we blame?
And what do they lament?
Millions of people contributed to
This hundred-year event."

Read the full poem by Chip Case.

The collapse of the housing bubble really emphasizes the importance of  investing in a home that has intrinsic value to you and to future buyers.  If you need help finding a Boston property you can feel confident in investing in, you can rely on the experience and knowledge of a Boston Realty Advisor to help you find the ideal Boston real estate to meet your needs.

 It appears that Boston real estate developers are finally believing that the recent and expected successes of Boston luxury Condos and Boston luxury Apartments are critical to the viability of commercial development such as the blighted Downtown Crossing's "Filene's Project."

The Boston Globe Article  says it all - there is quite a bit of interest in the purchase of the Filene's development site from Vornado who stopped development due to the downturn in the market a few years ago.

This is not the case in all cities across the country and not so in all of Massachusetts or even all parts of Boston. In any case, we should be pleased that there are positive signs of recovery.

Posted by : David Friedberg, CEO - Residential Division

Last night Boston Realty Advisors' CEO David Friedberg, lobbied Congressman Barney Frank for another housing tax credit program based on the success of the First-Time Buyer Tax Credit Programs of 2009!

He also talked about a new Boston property plan for HUD (Housing and Urban Development) similar to those from the early 70's which created housing for the moderate and poor while creating 1,000's of jobs for the Bay State.