Here's the latest on the proposed tower;
Talk is cheap, but where are the tower payments?
Belkin hasn't coughed up.
May 09,2007
(Boston Hearald, or
http://www.bostonherald.com)
by Scott Van Voorhis.
City Hall insists that Tommy's Tower is for real.
There is no reason at all to doubt that the mayor's vision of a 1,000-foot tower rising above Boston's skyline is right on schedule, I'm told.
After all, local businessman Steve Belkin has been showing off stunning renderings of what would be the city's tallest office tower, and with a park on top. He wants to start work next year, in time to open his 80-story behemouth in 2011.
But one sure way of proving that it's a serious plan would be to start showing weary taxpayers the money.
BNelkin unveiled plans for his $1b tower last fall. In January, Mayor Thomas M. Menino gave his offcial blessing to Belkin's proposal to replace a crumbling,
city-owned parking garage with a Renzo Piano-disigned tower.
So far, so good.
So gthe next step, one might assume, would be a check for the site, or at least a little downpayment, right?
Not exactly.
While word is that the garage is worth as much as $70m, there is no deadlinr yet for Belkin to make his first payment, city officials acknowledge. The property which has been eyed for a possible sale by city officials for years, is still being assessed.
Nor is there any timeline for when Belkin's first payment for the garage site might be made either.
All of which sounds odd given that Belkin, the tower's would-be developer, has been freely talking up plans to begin work next year.
But it gets even stranger.
Menino's blessing in January was supposed to have triggered a chain of payments to the city, eventually culminating with Belkin owning the garage site.
The mayor in a press release, recommended to the Boston Redevelopment Authority that Belkin be "tentatively designated" as the developer.
With tentative designation, Belkin was supposed to pay 1% of the purchase price. Another 24% was to have been paid up 90 days later upon formal designation.
Based on an estimated value of $70m - that's roughly $17m - nothing to sneeze at as city officials scramble for a million here and a million there to put extra cops on the streets.
But a funny thing happened on the way to designation.
Four months and counting, City Hall's developing arm, not known for refusing to carry out the mayor's marching orders, has yet to implement his recommendation.
A spokewoman for the BRA blamed complicated negotiations, but has insisted that everything is on track.
Still, when it comes to any business deal, nothing says it like cold, hard cash.
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and ya thanks for the link, ive visted ArchBoston before and it is still hard to find out about Filenes Tower
Tommy's Tower Not Dead Yet.
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