Ginormous Financial District Tower Maybe Probably On Again

It's one of the biggest what-ifs in recent Boston real estate: a 1,000-foot tower off Federal Street in the Financial District on the site of a city garage and an adjoining building (the original design by Italian starchitect Renzo Piano is rendered above). Pitched by would-be developer Steven Belkin in those prelapsarian days of 2006 and 2007, it would have easily been the tallest tower in Boston—in all of New England—but the Federal Aviation Administration said it was a little too tall for Logan and, besides, the Great Recession came and put the kibosh on any of Belkin's—and the city's—ambitions.

Then! In the summer of 2012 came news that Belkin was meeting with officials in the Menino administration about building at the garage site and at his adjacent building at 133 Federal. Building what exactly, nobody seemed to know. But building something, it certainly looked like. The climate, especially financing-wise, had shifted markedly; and Boston was nothing if not a city of potential spires.

Yet nothing happened and the Menino administration passed into history at the end of 2013 as development around town picked up even more. Now! It looks like Mayor Marty Walsh wants to plunk something formidable between Federal and Devonshire, and his administration is in fresh talks with Belkin.

Per Thomas Grillo at the Boston Business Journal, Hizzoner has set aside monies to demolish the 435-space garage on Devonshire Street. Plus: "We will take the garage down and begin the process of looking for somebody. There was some interest in it in the past and we've reached out to that developer [Belkin] to see if they are still interested ... I believe he still is."

Whether we're talking a 1,000-foot tower again, it's not clear. What is clear? The city is again pushing for some sort of big-time development in the FiDi. Stay tuned.
· Mayor Walsh Pledges to Demolish City Garage, Revives Development Option with Belkin [Biz Journal]
· The 1,000-Foot FiDi Skyscraper Designed by Renzo Piano [Curbed Boston]
· Boston's Tallest Tower, Take Two [Curbed Boston]
· More Tall Tales! Our Updated Boston Towers Heatmap [Curbed Boston]