Psst. If you're on Tremont Street on Monday, stop into the new model condo for Millennium Place and see the future of downtown Boston—the good, the bad and the tastefully done. The good? Inventory! The 15-story tower's 256 condos, ranging in price from $550,000 for one-bedrooms facing a courtyard to $3.5 million for penthouses with rooftop terraces, come at a time of absurdly low inventory in much of the Hub. There simply are not enough homes for sale to go around, which only contributes to the area's high prices and therefor higher-than-should-be barriers to happy entry.
The bad? As we've noted, Millennium Place represents perfectly the downtown Boston condo as gated community. Its on-premises private club with casual dining; its library; its cultivated private gardens; its 24-hour private resident concierge; its screening room; its Pilates, massage, and yoga studios—all these mean an owner presumably need not leave the building (or venture far from it—the studios are across the street in the Sports Club/LA). Though one guesses that an owner is paying for such exclusivity, never mind privacy, with prices starting at $550K. But such exclusivity almost guarantees a lack of interaction with the Downtown Crossing that Millennium Place is supposed to help enliven. Just sayin'.
· Millennium Place [website]
· Millennium Selling 256 Hub Condos [Herald]
· Millennium Place and the Rise of Gated Communities Downtown [Curbed Boston]
· Boston Condo Inventory Is So Low [Insert Punchline Here] [Curbed Boston]
· Our complete Millennium Place coverage [Curbed Boston]