This cannot be good news for Hub real estate: A new study purporting to map the world's leading tech centers places Boston behind New York (the study's got its flaws, but the gist is undeniable). New York is growing more jobs and garnering more venture-capital deals than the Greater Boston region (though Greater Boston can still raise more aggregate funds). It's a long-known trend—New York overtaking Boston as the nation's No. 2 hotspot for tech, behind Silicon Valley—but such bad news is always a stark reminder of just how much real estate here is riding on expectations of tech success.
There are the hundreds of micro-apartments planned for Southie; the Innovation District; the future tenants, buyers and ferry riders of East Boston, which is supposed to take its cue from Southie's renaissance; there's Kendall Square and, really, the whole debate now in Cambridge over whether to build more densely. So much of this real estate development—and, with it, policy changes—is predicated upon the expectation that we will have a steady influx of young professionals tied to a growing tech industry demanding housing and things to do at night. Take that away, and, we ask you, what's the market for micro-apartments?
· NYC Jumps Ahead of Boston in Tech Start-Ups [Globe]
· What If Boston Loses Thousands of Tech Jobs? [Curbed Boston]
· South Boston Techies Will Rescue East Boston Real Estate [Curbed Boston]
· The Departed: South Boston to Change Forever This Year [Curbed Boston]
· A Day in the Life of Kendall Square: Lobster and Smartphones [Curbed Boston]
· NIMBYs and YIMBYs in Cambridge Hone Their Messages [Curbed Boston]