Back in September, medical software developer Meditech pulled the plug on a plan to build a $65 million office complex in Freetown, but South Coast officials mounted an intense effort […]
Growth and Development
Posted inEconomy, Politics, The Download
Millennium to plug hole
The ugly hole in the ground at Downtown Crossing is finally going to be filled, according to stories in the Boston newspapers. Millennium Partners will take control of the former […]
Posted inEconomy
Galvin trades barbs with S. Coast officials
South Coast officials traded pointed accusations with an unusually animated Secretary of State William Galvin today, as the two sides battled over a bill exempting a stalled Freetown office development […]
Posted inEconomy, Opinion
A Gateway to unintended consequences
what’s in a name? According to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, everything. In 2007, MassINC and the Brookings Institution issued a report that used the phrase “Gateway City” to describe “the […]
Posted inEconomy
Historical roadblock
The proposed site of the Meditech office park development. Photo by J. Cappuccio. Peace summits are preceded by battles. And as far as Beacon Hill turf battles go, the […]
Posted inEconomy
Zipping down the information superhighway
the state and federal governments are spending more than $100 million to bring wired broadband access to the 5 percent of Massachusetts residents who don’t have it and can’t get […]
Posted inEconomy, The Back Story
Smart growth funds running out
The account that funds the state’s smart growth law is running out of cash, raising the prospect that the state’s first major effort at using incentives to promote housing construction […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics, The Download
With casinos, all politics is political
If, as Barney Frank says, “Government is the name we give to things we choose to do together,” politics must be the name we give to things that advance our […]
Posted inEconomy
A have and have-not world
carol meyrowitz started her climb up the corporate ladder at Framingham-based TJX Corp. in 1983. Today, nearly 30 years later, she runs a $22 billion retailing giant whose off-price strategy […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics
Winn pleads guilty to 2 misdemeanors
The prominent Boston developer Arthur Winn is pleading guilty to a pair of misdemeanor campaign finance violations, and a development company formerly headed by Winn agreed to pay a $1.5 […]
Posted inEconomy, The Download
A different kind of slot position for Pats?
The Globe reports today that a lawyer for Patriots owner Robert Kraft’s company drafted a zoning change over the summer that would have allowed for a casino on property The […]
Posted inEconomy, Transportation
North Station garage deal on shaky ground?
Members of the MassDOT board of directors are raising questions about the pending sale of the MBTA’s North Station garage, raising the possibility that the struggling transit agency could face […]
Posted inEconomy, The Back Story
Greenway lowers its BID price
The Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy has entered the final stretch of its effort to launch a Business Improvement District to help fund its operations. The conservancy has made concessions to […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics
Professor says Boston attractive casino site
Casino operators will bid very aggressively for a license to operate in the Boston area if gambling legislation passes, but Massachusetts officials should go slowly in selecting the eventual winner, […]
Posted inEconomy
Have you noticed a change in downtown Boston?
In five months on the job, the Downtown Boston Business Improvement District says it has hauled away 32,000 pounds of trash and removed 1,500 graffiti sites. It has organized art […]
Posted inEconomy, Transportation
Delaware North bids $75m for T garage
An affiliate of Delaware North submitted the sole bid for the MBTA’s North Station garage today, putting the financially struggling transportation agency in line for a $75 million windfall. The […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics, State House News Service, The Download
Retail politics
In Washington, politicians are fighting over debt. Closer to home, it’s groceries they get all worked up about. The mayors of Somerville and Boston are currently beating up on Wal-Mart. […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Economy, Politics, The Download
For lawmakers on Beacon Hill, patronage is the scandal that won’t go away
<div id=”fb-root”></div><script src=”First it was Probation, a legislative jobs bank that blew up in spectacular fashion in its sponsors’ faces. Now, just two months after the Legislature tried distancing itself […]
Posted inEconomy
Swan Boats, Sullivan’s get sweet deals from city, state
the swan boats in the Public Garden and Sullivan’s hot dog stand on Castle Island in South Boston are two of Boston’s most beloved businesses. But the landmark operations are […]
Posted inEconomy
Divining Devens
massachusetts hasn’t created a new municipality in nearly a century, since East Brookfield and Brookfield divorced in 1920. Five years ago, it looked like Devens would displace East Brookfield as […]
Posted inEconomy, Environment, The Download
High-watt hearings on proposed utility merger
NStar and Northeast Utilities will begin a series of high-stakes regulatory hearings tomorrow that will determine whether the two electric giants will be allowed to merge — and may also […]
Posted inEconomy, The Back Story
Back where they started
The state-owned building at Parcel 7 has kept a lonely watch over Boston’s Rose Kennedy Greenway for a decade now. The office structure, a relic of the Big Dig, has […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics, The Download
The Download: Sexy cities
Harvard Business School professor Rosabeth Moss Kanter says flourishing cities have sex appeal. I hadn’t thought about cities that way, but she’s got a point. The good ones have a […]